Susan Parker | A summer reading list filled with historic gems
These hot, steamy days are a good time to sit inside and read. Or, if we get a break in the weather, a good time to read in the breeze on the porch. These are the days to read something about the history of our city, state, or region.
The American Historical Association launched a summer reading challenge (AHA Reads) for its members to read something different than usual – different time period or place; historical fiction; a new book; or a new look at an old topic. We can join the AHA members and do our own version in St. Augustine.
Let me make a few suggestions to get you started. With some works, it may take a bit of effort on your part to find them, but in the process you might encounter something that sounds even more interesting than your original target.
More from Susan Parker
- A history of the cannon at Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine
- Andres de San Miguel shares stories of time spent in St. Augustine
- In Florida, homestead grants became vacation spots, not farms
If you want something with adventure, try "The Search for the Atocha" by former St. Augustine resident, historian Eugene Lyon. Lyon describes the efforts to salvage the Spanish ship which sunk in a storm in 1622, laden with silver ingots and the luxury items of the passengers. Lyon's telling moves between the salvage attempts of the late 20th century and the lives of the Atocha's doomed passengers in the 17th century. Lyon remarks that "there was no mercy in the wind" for those on board the Atocha.
Continuing the shipwreck theme, two short works provide first-hand accounts by survivors who trekked the southeast coast. Both of them spent time in St. Augustine and also wrote about the Native American groups they met on their journeys. Andres de San Miguel arrived in St. Augustine in 1595, after wrecking off the Georgia coast. John H. Hann translated San Miguel's memoir in "An Early Florida Adventure Story: The Fray Andres de San Miguel Account."
A century later, Jonathan Dickinson crashed ashore near Stuart, Florida, and walked northward along the coast. In 1697, Dickinson wrote his account in English. There are several printings and versions of "Jonathan Dickinson's Journal, or God's Protecting Providence (Being the Narrative of a Journey from Port Royal in Jamaica to Philadelphia between Aug. 23, 1696, and April 1, 1697)."
Early in the COVID shutdown (April 19, 2020) I recommended Thomas Graham's "Mr. Flagler's St. Augustine" and I do so again. Professor Graham offers a look at our city in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Another of Graham's books, "Silent Films in St. Augustine" tells of making movies here in the early 1900s. Beach sand dunes became desert settings in the hands of the early movie makers. The photographs make the book especially worthwhile.
Florida's other coast receives the attention of Jack E. Davis in his Pulitzer Prize winning book, "The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea." One reviewer praised the book for telling "how humanity and the environment evolved over 10 millennia as a single system."
I am looking forward to reading Gary Mormino's new book, "Dreams in the New Century: Instant Cities, Shattered Hopes, and Florida’s Turning Point." Released just three months ago, in April, the book's title well describes the topic.
Another book with a self-descriptive title is "Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley: African Princess, Florida Slave, Plantation Slaveowner," by Daniel Schafer. Professor Schafer follows the exceptional life of a young woman from Senegal through her six decades in Duval County.
I was fascinated by what was revealed at the pioneer oceanarium in "Marineland," by Cheryl Messinger and Terran McGinnis. Through the portholes of the oceanarium, observers could glimpse previously unseen or unknown aspects of the lives of sea animals in the tanks.
If you are looking for a short read, here are two that elaborate on the history of two well-known sites of St. Augustine. We usually hear or read fairly short descriptions of these places. These short historical works offer a more complex view of the past. "The Building of Castillo de San Marcos" by Luis Rafael Arana and Albert Manucy tells in 64 pages of the obstacles of constructing the fortification and the work by construction crews without the folklore that has grown up about the "castle."
In 31 pages, Jane Landers provides the story behind the creation of "Fort Mose – Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose: A Free Black Town in Spanish Colonial Florida." Short descriptions for visitors and information by tour guides cannot offer the complexity of these sites – the fits and starts, disappointments as well as the successes, that fill the pages of these monographs.
Enjoy the long, hot summer with some history books.
Susan R. Parker holds a doctorate in colonial history.