If ‘Finding Florida’ is your first attempt at deciphering state history, then also find a second book. The narrative is lively, but critics slam a cavalier attitude toward fact-checking. The imposing length unfortunately sprouts from rant-like passages.
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Finding Florida
The True History of the Sunshine State
TD Allman
The book should still be savored for defying convention. The author undermines carefully-crafted notions of Florida history, dating to the arrival of Ponce de Leon in 1513. He spotlights the economic and social tension that has long percolated in this corner of America. The hit list includes Andrew Jackson, the seventh US president, and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1939 for her novel The Yearling.
TD Allman died in 2024. His legacy as a globetrotting journalist for Harper’s, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, and other magazines is colorful and textured. He first soared to fame by reporting on a secret CIA airfield in Laos. In his obituary, The New York Times writes, “He combined close observation with sharp conclusions about misdeeds or abuse of power.” Allman was born in Tampa. ■
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