Salvaging the Real Florida

"Reaffirms that [Belleville's] poetic work belongs with a class of Florida writers that includes Al Burt (too often forgotten), Archie Carr, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Sidney Lanier, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and William Bartram. . . . He still turns a cold eye on the trampling, gouging, lacerating, scorching, mauling, draining, and eradicating that lies behind a perverted notion of progress. But he does not allow the conceit to get him down as he crisscrosses the state in search of the 'real Florida,' an expression Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings usd more than six decades ago to distinguish to indigenous landscape from the developed."--Jack Davis, Tampa Bay History

 

"There's still enough real Florida left in Florida to wow even the most attention-addled imagination. All it takes are a few left turns. Just ask Bill Belleville, who's gotten off on more unnamed exits than anyone I've come upon in quite some time. In his delightfully meandering Salvaging the Real Florida,  Belleville will not only tell ya which turns to take, he'll let you know what goes down once you get [there]. And trust me, once you've gotten a gander at Belleville's Real Florida you will wanna be hitting the low road--or at least a wild waterway. Taking a page from ol' Henry David Thoreau . . . Belleville begins his sauntering series of journeys by explaining just what sauntering really meant to the infamous Transcendentalist. Belleville is encouraging us to adapt 'a behavior that sets you squarely in the moment.' And to 'retrieve the real Florida from those who would turn the Land of Flowers into one giant, giddy corporate amusement park.' Most remarkably perhaps is that no matter where Belleville goes, he sinks into what he calls 'gator time,' and he achieves a oneness with the world that would surely please a saunterer such as Thoreau. That Belleville does so with a naturalist's eye and a historian's attention to detail only makes this rich appreciation of a largely forgotten Florida all the more rewarding."--Miami Sun Post Weekly

"Salvaging is the kind of book that will enthrall devotees of Henry David Thoreau and Ed Abbey. Reading [it] is a bit like going on a field trip with your favorite science teacher : fun because you get to be outside and get your hands dirty, and wholesome because, despite your best efforts, you end up learning something. . . . It's impossible not to soak up Belleville's concern for a sustainable, healthy environment. . . . In appreciating natural places, we become better observers, Belleville says, and his essays are a relaxed study in observation."--Orlando Weekly

"People who spend their lives marching in the parade of progress need passionate artists like Bill Belleville to help us see---or see again---the natural world. Not just see it, but to feel and respect it . . . to blend into it, to merge our souls into a wilderness landscape. . . . I love pondering with him the untamed yet harmonious and efficient compositions of nature. I revel in his respect for those who have made their mastery of language a vehicle for Salvaging the Real Florida, and I revel in his own spectacular gifts of expression--especially his ability to conjure the quietly epiphanic close."--Phil Jason, Naples Florida Weekly

"[Belleville's] essays in the new Salvaging the Real Florida are an immensely readable introduction to his conservation philosophy and respect for nature."--Orlando Sentinel

"Belleville is the sort of guy that you'd want as a companion on an outdoor trip. . . . HIs writing is an absolute pleasure to read. This collection of essays, full of hidden gems and wonderful insights, never disappoints."--National Outdoor Book Awards (Winner, Natural History Literature)

"In Salvaging the Real Florida essayist Bill Belleville saunters through pine and palmetto country, fins deep down into artesian springs, visits shipwrecks off Key Largo, and kayaks through the densest gator populations in Florida. He treks off the map and close to home, seeking not only 'the real Florida,' but a 'chance to rediscover [him]self-the chance to be found.' . . . This is a smart, knowing collection that sheds light on Florida's lesser known natural wonders. Belleville takes the reader to places that most people figure are already gone. He reminds us that all is not lost; there are places worth being found. We only have to know where and how to look."--Florida Book Review

"...Longtime Florida author Bill Belleville takes a personal approach to sharing his love for wild places in his latest book “Salvaging the Real Florida” (University Press of Florida, 240 pages $24.95).This work is a collection of writings about Belleville’s travels around Florida...The point of Belleville’s writings is that getting outside is the point. You learn about nature by getting inside habitats. You get scratched up and sunburned. You have muck on the outside of your shoes and sand on the inside. You may, like Belleveile... have minor misadventures of being temporarily lost in the woods or trying fruitlessly to paddle down an unwelcoming creek.

It’s the kind of experience that makes you look back and laugh at your temporary folly, but it’s also the antidote to the scripted experiences that await you in the unnatural entertainment venues that increasingly dot this part of Florida today, leaving tourists with the impression that that’s all there is to the Florida experience....Belleville’s book also puts Florida’s nature in historical and cultural contexts when the occasion calls for it-he quotes early Florida naturalist William Bartram a lot-and suggests some other books that anyone interested in Florida’s natural history might enjoy...."--Lakeland Ledger