The Rise and Decline of the Redneck Riviera: An Insider's History of the Florida-Alabama Coast

Description

The Rise and Decline of the Redneck Riviera traces the development of the Florida-Alabama coast as a tourist destination from the late 1920s and early 1930s, when it was sparsely populated with "small fishing villages," through to the tragic and devastating BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010. Harvey H. Jackson III focuses on the stretch of coast from Mobile Bay and Gulf Shores, Alabama, east to Panama City, Florida--an area known as the "Redneck Riviera." Jackson explores the rise of this area as a vacation destination for the lower South's middle- and working-class families following World War II, the building boom of the 1950s and 1960s, and the emergence of the Spring Break "season." From the late sixties through 1979, severe hurricanes destroyed many small motels, cafes, bars, and early cottages that gave the small beach towns their essential character. A second building boom ensued in the 1980s dominated by high-rise condominiums and large resort hotels. Jackson traces the tensions surrounding the gentrification of the late 1980s and 1990s and the collapse of the housing market in 2008. While his major focus is on the social, cultural, and economic development, he also documents the environmental and financial impacts of natural disasters and the politics of beach access and dune and sea turtle protection. The Rise and Decline of the Redneck Riviera is the culmination of sixteen years of research drawn from local newspapers, interviews, documentaries, community histories, and several scholarly studies that have addressed parts of this region's history. From his 1950s-built family vacation cottage in Seagrove Beach, Florida, and on frequent trips to the Alabama coast, Jackson witnessed the changes that have come to the area and has recorded them in a personal, in-depth look at the history and culture of the coast. A Friends Fund Publication.

Get the book

Amazon.com

Search the book

eBay.com

Search the book

Other editions

• 

  The Rise and Decline of the Redneck Riviera: An Insider's...

  • 2012-05-01
  • 345 pages
  • Ebook
  • University of Georgia Press

Similar books

• 

  Florida's Miracle Strip

  By Tim Hollis

  first real coverage of the park did not come about until around 1966, and even then it raised more questions than answers. At that time, Fort Walton Beach publicity reported that Okaloosa Island Park was “under new management” (although ...

• 

  Redneck Riviera: Armadillos, Outlaws, and the Demise of an American Dream

  By Dennis Covington

  Dennis Covington's father made only one investment in his life, and it was an unfortunate one - two and a half acres of an inland Florida real-estate scam. The entire...

• 

  Panama City Beach: Tales from the World's Most Beautiful Beaches

  By Jeannie Weller Cooper

  In a collection of nostalgic and lighthearted vignettes, local author Jeannie Weller Cooper recounts the history of Panama City Beach, the barrier islands and beach for old Panama City.

• 

  Southern Wonder: Alabama's Surprising Biodiversity

  By R. Scot Duncan

  Scotese, “Plate tectonic Maps and Continental drift Animations,” PALeoMAP Project, accessed July 2010, www.scotese.com; and edward J. tarbuck and Frederick K. Lutgens, Earth Science, 12th edition (upper Saddle river, ...

• 

  Panama City Beach

  By Jan Smith

  Considered one of the world's most beautiful beaches for its sugar white sand and emerald blue-green waters, Panama City Beach has, until recently, remained one of Florida's undiscovered treasures.

• 

  Green Empire: The St. Joe Company and the Remaking of Florida's Panhandle

  By Kathryn Ziewitz, June Wiaz

  In Green Empire, Kathryn Ziewitz and June Wiaz explain how St. Joe is poised to permanently and drastically alter the landscape, environment, and economic foundation of the Panhandle, the state's last frontier."

• 

  Finders Keepers: The Story of a Man Who Found $1 Million

  By Mark Bowden

  The “unexpectedly moving” story of dumb luck and the American Dream set in South Philly from the # 1 New York Times–bestselling author (Entertainment Weekly).

• 

  Miles

  By Quincy Troupe, Miles Davis

  Miles discusses his life and music from playing trumpet in high school to the new instruments and sounds from the Caribbean.

• 

  Bad: The Autobiography of James Carr

  By James Edward Carr

  THE prison autobiography from the man who never stopped fighting.

• 

  The Big Trivia Quiz Book

  By DK

  An addictive quiz ebook for all the family featuring 10,000 questions, The Big Trivia Quiz Book has something for everyone.