Queering the Redneck Riviera

“A fascinating look at queer life in the Florida Panhandle. A welcome addition to the scholarship on the queer past, queer geography, and Florida history.”—Stacy Braukman, author of Communists and Perverts under the Palms: The Johns Committee in Florida, 1956–1965

“Watkins shows that the queer culture that emerged on Florida’s ‘Redneck Riviera’ was unique—a fierce (and often fraught) manifestation of regional boosterism, Cold War militarism, and competing claims over the meaning of ‘community.’ A significant contribution to our understanding of the history of lesbian and gay experience in the United States.”—Colin R. Johnson, author of Just Queer Folks: Gender and Sexuality in Rural America

“Excellently demonstrates the presence and utility of queer geographies in the Florida Panhandle and provides a valuable contribution as a local examination to LGBTQ studies in the state and the American South.”—H-Net

“Interweaves the growing visibility of postwar gay life with the attendant moral panics and police regulations of public gay life. . . . An important addition to studies of gay history, tourism, and the South.”—Journal of American History

“Mines these queer spaces effectively and fleshes out one of the more fascinating histories with his in-depth study of the Emma Jones Society.”—American Historical Review

“Places this story in broader national, regional, and local contexts while telling touching personal stories with fascinating characters.”—New Books Network

“Watkins’ book shares with us for the first time the many firsthand accounts, in great detail, of gay men navigating a gay lifestyle in Florida’s panhandle. . . . Many of the stories in the book are as entertaining as they are educational and informative.”—South Florida Gay News