The Everglades: River of Grass

by Marjory Stoneman Douglas

Book Overview

Before 1947, when Marjory Stoneman Douglas named The Everglades a "river of grass," most people considered the area worthless. She brought the world's attention to the need to preserve The Everglades.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1561641359
• ISBN13: 9781561641352
• Release Date: March 1997
• Publisher: Pineapple Press
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 1.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 5.8" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Wrong edition

Cover photo showed I believe the 60th anniversary edition, which is what I wanted, I got the 30th anniversary addition. Great book obviously, but don't bank on getting the right edition

Wonderful update!

I had read an earlier printing of this classic book, and I knew that it was an invaluable resource of information and a well-written narrative. The 50th anniversary edition has excellent updates about developments in the Everglades and the maps are much more readable than my earlier version. I was very pleased.

Two Books in One

Last winter, I purchased River of Grass at the National Park Service's store at Shark Valley in the Everglades. It was recommended by the tour guide. I visit Miami about once a year and always hope to have the opportunity to visit the Everglades. I have known that they are a very special, spiritual place on the edge of a huge city. However, River of Grass has helped me better understand the unique place that this wilderness holds. It is an ancient area that was the sight of much fighting, greed, and sorrow. It is one of the very few places left where the Native American people fought and, to some degree, won. This, in and of itself, is fascinating. There is a deep and ancient culture that Ms. Douglas discusses and explains with great beauty and respect. And then there is the River itself. The Everglades have been the sight of some of the most contentious environmental battles in North America. Ms. Douglas identifies the warring parties and comes down firmly in the camp of the environmentalists. This adds a great deal of power and conviction to the book. I strongly recommend this book if you have an interest in South Florida beyond the beaches and the tourist sights.

Marvelous

What a readable and fascinating history of the wonderful State of Florida! I enjoyed every minute of the story of the struggle to conquer the environment and mold it to the white man's idea of a civilized place. Sadly, I am not convinced the developers will allow the Everglades to exist much longer. I am grateful to have lived in a time when its wonders are still available to me.

"Mother of the Everglades"

That's how most of us in Florida referred to Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Long honored by the state and then by the nation a few years before she died in 1998, she was a living legend in the South Florida environmental movement. Within a few miles of where I live there's a school, a park, a long section of highway and the Biscayne Nature Center, all of which are named after this grand old lady.And grand and old she was. One of the most amazing facts about her life is the way it seems to have paralleled the recent history of the Everglades itself. Consider this. The first real encroachment of the Everglades began in 1890 when settlers started draining the area around the Kissimmee river. This was just 10 years before Douglas was born. When she wrote THE EVERGLADES: RIVER OF GRASS in 1947 she was 57 years old. The book played a huge part in creating public awareness about the vital importance of the area and was the prime impetus for the creation of the Everglades National Park. Douglas was in fact there when Harry Truman officially opened the park in late 1947. She was still around to receive an honor from president Clinton in 1993. Most incredibly she lived to see the publishing of this - the Fiftieth Anniversary edition of her best known book - dying shortly after at the age of 108! One of the salient points to note about this edition is that it offers an added chapter by another writer titled "Coming Together" which highlights some of the recent progress being made in reversing the damage done to the Everglades watershed area. Progress which can trace it's origins back decades ago to the constant cajoling and inspiration of one Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Never has the saying "Life imitates Nature" been any truer.Douglas's original book is in keeping with the times it was written in. A natural history of the Everglades with a heavy emphasis on wildlife and the local culture, written in a simple straightforward style. This "just-the-facts" approach is used when recounting the early history of the area, giving names and dates of conquerors and explorers. The writing style occasionally feels a bit dry but these moments quickly pass as we get so caught up in reading about history by someone who was themselves a bit of living history.

One of the great books of environmental awareness

Florida, the nation, and the world owe so much to Marjory Stoneman Douglas -- if she had not taken up the cause of the Everglades, and expressed their plight in such a memorable way, the awesome and unique Glades could already be gone. This book, therefore, is not only a delightful thing to read on its own terms; it is one of the greatest examples of the power of committed literature to transmit and inspire commitment in others. Marjory Stoneman Douglas literally changed the world for the better, and continues to do so, speaking from the page to every person who looks into this wonderful book.