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A review by 2littlet1me
The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise by Michael Grunwald
The Swamp was a fantastic stop on my Florida history reading tour. It was a great complementary read to the breezy,[b:Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean|16007|Last Train to Paradise Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean|Les Standiford|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386924220l/16007._SY75_.jpg|17799], the other book I bought at the Key West Island Bookstore. While Last Train to Paradise is more of a micro history, The Swamp is necessarily expansive. It tells the story of the Everglades, one of the world's most unique ecosystems. This massive, gently sloping swamp, "The River of Grass," has historically been home to a staggering amount of plants and wildlife that, over time, have been destroyed or reduced. Grunwald tells the story of the Everglades in an engaging manner. Like the Everglades itself, the book can become overflowing. Sometimes I lost track of characters. Sometimes I felt like a piece of history could have been expanded upon. Overall though, I thought this was the most relevant nonfiction that I have read on South Florida.
I cannot account for the whole book, but I highlighted a few tidbits. The early recorded history of the Everglades is interesting. I felt that Grunwald went a little quickly through Native American history. I know that this is not a Native American history book, but It almost feels like there were no tribes in the Everglades or even on the outskirts until Americans pushed them into the interior. I don't believe this is true. I am by no means an expert, nor am I sure that Grunwald even intended to do this. I do agree though, as Grunwald contends, that nation-states (Spain, England, US) that colonized Florida essentially avoided the Everglades, especially its interior. American colonists likely pushed Native Americans into the Everglades after taking their rich land in North Florida.
Grunwald correctly and very briefly argues that the Second Seminole War was America's first Vietnam. It was a guerilla war of attrition fought on unfamiliar, unforgiving terrain, against an underestimated enemy. This is a fascinating and under appreciated war. I don't think there has been anything written about it in the mainstream, but it was a war of "firsts" in American history and resulted in over 600 Seminole/Muskogees (woman and children included) being captured by Thomas Jessup and a bunch of Tennessee Volunteers under the false flag of truce and sent to either Oklahoma or prison. The trail of tears took them from the site of their "capture" on the east coast of Florida back through their villages in the Loxahatchee, which is in the Everglades. In Grunwald's picture of Native American history in the everglades, he paints beautiful portrait of Osceola (known today as a symbol for FSU sports) that made me want to explore his life (and death) more.
For the US settlers, the most valuable thing about the war in Florida to exterminate the Native Americans was the initial mapping of the Everglades, which remained as mysterious as China. (Fun fact: Abner Doubleday (falsely attributed to creating baseball) was stationed in the Everglades and commented on how god awful it was). South Florida was to be avoided. Its development, from the start, was marked by fits of random opportunism and scams. Grunwald dives into this shadiness in a thorough manner. It feels appropriate that Charles Ponzi resurfaced in Jacksonville with a new name and pyramid schemes during a boom. The reason Flagler connected with Julia Tuttle to run his train through Miami was because a particularly bad hurricane and other weather did not affect Miami's citrus production during a generally bad season. (Another fun fact is that University of Miami's mascot is an Ibis because it is apparently the first bird to return after a storm). Grunwald describes the boom times of South Florida in detail. Everyone was swept up in it either as a profiteer or a dupe. Everyone from Marjory Stoneman Douglas's and William Jennings Bryan were selling towns like Coral Gables and less opulent neighborhoods to heat starved people from the midwest and north. Throughout Florida's history, there have always been naysayers, urging people to curb development and allow this ecological miracle largely function as it did before humans built large levees and dikes. Charles Torrey Simpson, Art Marshall, Ernest Coe, and Ernest Lyons, were some of the names of people Grunwald memorializes who had a more grand appreciation and vision of conservation than their contemporaries.
I am glossing over a large part of the book, which is Florida's modern development because it is fairly simple and sad. Florida is a state of immigrants from the country and world. It keeps growing and its growth directly taxes the Everglades. In many cases on the west and east, its growth has directly been in the Everglades. The Army Corps of Engineers, sugar planters, miners, and developers are among the villains who have mangled the natural flow of the Everglades to support population growth and economic activity. In the face of those dynamics, Grunwald introduces a disconcerting cast of conservationists, lobbyists, politicians that take us into 2006, which was been marred by state and NGO infighting, national conflicts, and some victories over how to reckon with the current day Everglades. There is a large and sometimes confusing discussion of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. I don't really know what to make of it and would be curious to read an update from Grunwald or other Florida observers. It was fun to hear that Al Gore didn't have the cojones to reject a plan to build an airport in Homestead, right next to the Glades and also to learn that Donna Brazile said that environmentalists can go fuck themselves. Relatedly, was reassuring to hear that Jeb Bush was all ears when Azurix, an Enron water services company, asked to pay a few billion for Everglades restoration if they could sell water captured by the project. It would be more disappointing to hear these modern stories if Grunwald had not laid out the history so well.
This book is an accomplishment. If you are curious about the political and ecological history of one of the world's most unique and beautiful ecosystems. If you are more broadly interested in how humans interact with our environment - look no further.
I cannot account for the whole book, but I highlighted a few tidbits. The early recorded history of the Everglades is interesting. I felt that Grunwald went a little quickly through Native American history. I know that this is not a Native American history book, but It almost feels like there were no tribes in the Everglades or even on the outskirts until Americans pushed them into the interior. I don't believe this is true. I am by no means an expert, nor am I sure that Grunwald even intended to do this. I do agree though, as Grunwald contends, that nation-states (Spain, England, US) that colonized Florida essentially avoided the Everglades, especially its interior. American colonists likely pushed Native Americans into the Everglades after taking their rich land in North Florida.
Grunwald correctly and very briefly argues that the Second Seminole War was America's first Vietnam. It was a guerilla war of attrition fought on unfamiliar, unforgiving terrain, against an underestimated enemy. This is a fascinating and under appreciated war. I don't think there has been anything written about it in the mainstream, but it was a war of "firsts" in American history and resulted in over 600 Seminole/Muskogees (woman and children included) being captured by Thomas Jessup and a bunch of Tennessee Volunteers under the false flag of truce and sent to either Oklahoma or prison. The trail of tears took them from the site of their "capture" on the east coast of Florida back through their villages in the Loxahatchee, which is in the Everglades. In Grunwald's picture of Native American history in the everglades, he paints beautiful portrait of Osceola (known today as a symbol for FSU sports) that made me want to explore his life (and death) more.
For the US settlers, the most valuable thing about the war in Florida to exterminate the Native Americans was the initial mapping of the Everglades, which remained as mysterious as China. (Fun fact: Abner Doubleday (falsely attributed to creating baseball) was stationed in the Everglades and commented on how god awful it was). South Florida was to be avoided. Its development, from the start, was marked by fits of random opportunism and scams. Grunwald dives into this shadiness in a thorough manner. It feels appropriate that Charles Ponzi resurfaced in Jacksonville with a new name and pyramid schemes during a boom. The reason Flagler connected with Julia Tuttle to run his train through Miami was because a particularly bad hurricane and other weather did not affect Miami's citrus production during a generally bad season. (Another fun fact is that University of Miami's mascot is an Ibis because it is apparently the first bird to return after a storm). Grunwald describes the boom times of South Florida in detail. Everyone was swept up in it either as a profiteer or a dupe. Everyone from Marjory Stoneman Douglas's and William Jennings Bryan were selling towns like Coral Gables and less opulent neighborhoods to heat starved people from the midwest and north. Throughout Florida's history, there have always been naysayers, urging people to curb development and allow this ecological miracle largely function as it did before humans built large levees and dikes. Charles Torrey Simpson, Art Marshall, Ernest Coe, and Ernest Lyons, were some of the names of people Grunwald memorializes who had a more grand appreciation and vision of conservation than their contemporaries.
I am glossing over a large part of the book, which is Florida's modern development because it is fairly simple and sad. Florida is a state of immigrants from the country and world. It keeps growing and its growth directly taxes the Everglades. In many cases on the west and east, its growth has directly been in the Everglades. The Army Corps of Engineers, sugar planters, miners, and developers are among the villains who have mangled the natural flow of the Everglades to support population growth and economic activity. In the face of those dynamics, Grunwald introduces a disconcerting cast of conservationists, lobbyists, politicians that take us into 2006, which was been marred by state and NGO infighting, national conflicts, and some victories over how to reckon with the current day Everglades. There is a large and sometimes confusing discussion of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. I don't really know what to make of it and would be curious to read an update from Grunwald or other Florida observers. It was fun to hear that Al Gore didn't have the cojones to reject a plan to build an airport in Homestead, right next to the Glades and also to learn that Donna Brazile said that environmentalists can go fuck themselves. Relatedly, was reassuring to hear that Jeb Bush was all ears when Azurix, an Enron water services company, asked to pay a few billion for Everglades restoration if they could sell water captured by the project. It would be more disappointing to hear these modern stories if Grunwald had not laid out the history so well.
This book is an accomplishment. If you are curious about the political and ecological history of one of the world's most unique and beautiful ecosystems. If you are more broadly interested in how humans interact with our environment - look no further.