{"product_id":"floridians-ronald-w-kenyon-9781530907908","title":"Floridians: Real Stories from the Sunshine State","description":"\"Curiosity and intelligence run deep in Ronald W. Kenyon's writing. He's a tireless world traveler with a real knack for looking at wherever he is and finding reasons to be fascinated by it.\" Frank Cerabino, columnist, \u003ci\u003eThe Palm Beach Post\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe cast of characters in these seventeen stories of fascinating Floridians includes the living and the dead, the famous and the infamous-murderers, imposters, royal pretenders, a supermarket cashier, a housekeeper, a homeless former crack addict rescued by an anonymous benefactor, the woman who was elected chief of the Seminoles, a Jordanian Cordon Bleu chef, a chess champion who founded a city and the first two Jewish senators. Even John Lennon makes an appearance. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA road trip across the state results in the shocking revelation that, in the 1930s, Seminole children were prohibited from attending either \"white\" or \"colored\" schools, but ends with an unexpected surprise: the Seminole Tribe of Florida, grown wealthy by the profits of its casinos and resorts, now owns the worldwide Hard Rock Café chain. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSome of the essays involved extensive research, often sparked by an apparently trivial observation; thus the story of the phony count and the fake countess begins when I noticed a sign with an inappropriate ampersand and leaps around the world to France, the former Belgian Congo, Yemen, the Emirate of Sharjah and Tangier. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe people in this book are Floridians, all, and some were even born in the Sunshine State. Yet most are transplants like me, native-born Americans migrating from elsewhere in the United States or immigrants fleeing Hitler's Germany, Castro's Cuba and the poverty of Guatemala. Each of them-each of us-possesses Real Stories to tell, and in this book the reader will discover some of them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Ronald W. Kenyon\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 153090790X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781530907908\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Createspace Independent Publishing Platform\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/26\/2016\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 198\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.52lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.42d","brand":"Ronald W. Kenyon","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48436829683967,"sku":"9781530907908","price":11.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_c181ee5a-83cb-4e39-a684-5c4c52aeab4c.jpg?v=1777158053","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/floridians-ronald-w-kenyon-9781530907908","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}