This book explains why everything you learned in your Florida history classes was wrong. It also describes how brutal and racist much of Florida's real history actually was. Although I finished the book several weeks ago, it has stayed in my mind so much that I am compelled to add an even stronger recommendation to read the book.

Some of the highlights for me were:
1) The origins of the myth of Ponce de Leon and De Soto. I remember my school books preaching the myth. Allman's book debunks almost everything we learned
2) The way that Florida became part of the USA is very similar to the strategy used by Russia to take over the Crimea. Although the school books teach that Florida was eventually purchased, somebody failed to get a receipt for the purchase. Allman claims that Florida was never purchased.
3) The role of Florida in the Civil War where large parts of the state were permanently occupied by Union troops. One of the few Civil War battles fought in the state was less than decisive for the southern troops because they were too busy massacaring black Union soliders.
4) Reading the White Supremicist backgrounds of the families for which Florida cities and counties were named for. For example, Gainesville was named for a general responsible for the death of hundreds of peaceful black and Seminole settlers in northern Florida. Broward county was named after somebody who wanted to send all blacks out of the state and one of the Brevards was responsible for numerous racist myths that went into the Florida textbooks.

One of the Florida newspapers performed a fact-check of the book when it first came out and only raised minor issues of facts. ( )

This book claims to deliver the truth about the real hidden history of Florida and it does deliver on revealing some outright untruths that many have been led to believe. The other side of the truth is how Allman sees things with a very definite political viewpoint. On balance though we see much about this state that is not too pretty from a historical perspective, particularly the theft from and murdering of the natives. The other unsavory aspect we are shown is the flim flam smoke and mirrors nature of things that Florida was built on such as deceptive land speculation, and the Disney method of divide and conquer.

Allman spends much of the book on early history of the state and skims over the last century in a chapter or two, somewhat disappointing. More recent events are presented in a paragraph or comment. ( )

Outstanding, informative, anecodtal funny, deeply thoughtful history of a state whose reality is diametrically opposite to its myth. ( )