10 TempTitle for Title Removal

By Patrick D. Smith

A Land Remembered has been ranked #1 Best Florida Book eight times in annual polls conducted by Florida Monthly Magazine.

In this best-selling novel, Patrick Smith tells the story of three generations of the MacIveys, a Florida family who battle the hardships of the frontier to rise from a dirt-poor Cracker life to the wealth and standing of real estate tycoons. The story opens in 1858, when Tobias MacIvey arrives in the Florida wilderness to start a new life with his wife and infant son, and ends two generations later in 1968 with Solomon MacIvey, who realizes that the land has been exploited far beyond human need. The sweeping story that emerges is a rich, rugged Florida history featuring a memorable cast of crusty, indomitable Crackers battling wild animals, rustlers, Confederate deserters, mosquitoes, starvation, hurricanes, and freezes to carve a kingdom out of the swamp. But their most formidable adversary turns out to be greed, including finally their own. Love and tenderness are here too: the hopes and passions of each new generation, friendships with the persecuted blacks and Indians, and respect for the land and its wildlife.

A Land Remembered was winner of the Florida Historical Society's Tebeau Prize as the Most Outstanding Florida Historical Novel. Now in its 14th hardcover printing, it has been in print since 1984 and is also available in trade paperback.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pineapple Press
• Release date: Sep 20, 2012
• ISBN: 9781561645398

Reviews for 10 TempTitle for Title Removal

[bugs5 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book that chronicles the life of a family settling Florida in 1800's. Very realistic.

[downtownlibrarian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a wonderful read, especially if you live in Florida! Fascinating portrait of the lives and hard times of the early cattlemen and the land they wandered. There were times I laughed and certainly times I cried.

[adribabe · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great book! This is a romantic novel of old Florida and the survival story of settlers in a harsh yet beautiful landscape. Has love, adventure, and self reflection. The first generation of McIveys were much easier for me to relate to than the second generation. ** Spoiler Alert** The story however is written from a man's romantic ideal in that the protagonists' son ends up having essentially two wives. Leaving one to herself knowing he'll never leave his "white" wife who knows nothing of this arrangement. He ends up getting what he deserves when both essentially die before he does. ** Spoiler ends** Even though it is a "man's" romantic novel I thoroughly enjoyed reading something different. I recommend this book highly.

[francesuzanne · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was fascinating. Lots of details of what it was like when the white men settled Florida from the 1860s to 1950. Three generations of a family work hard and make millions of dollars off cattle and oranges. Makes me want to go find Puenta Rassa.

[readhanded · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A Land Remembered is considered a pretty seminal work among Florida literature, but honestly, I like some of the less serious, more formulaic cracker westerns better. Part of my problem with A Land Remembered is how it shows the devolution of a Florida cracker family through the generations. The patriarch, Tobias, is honest and hardworking. He readily helps his fellow man and ignores racial stereotypes. His son and grandson, however, are not quite so morally upright. Tobias's son, Zech, decides that it's okay to have a white wife and a Native American mistress because the two worlds are so different. Not only does Zech not see this to be problematic, I got the idea that the author thinks it was okay, too. Zech's son, Sol, is even worse - greedy and power hungry. I know that showing this devolution is intentional, but it does not sit right with me. I really enjoy the picture of early 1900s Florida life depicted in this book, but I'm certain it is not entirely accurate. A lot of romanticizing going on for sure. Read it if you enjoy Florida literature.

[judithrs · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A Land Remembered. Patrick D. Smith. My cousin Ann lent this to me when I was visiting her in March. She said she couldn’t imagine reading a novel based on the history of Florida and I couldn’t either. However when I started it I couldn’t put it down. It reminded me of the various Laura Ingalls Wilder books. The book begins in 1858 when Tobias MacIvey leaves his farm in Georgia and ends with his grandson who has become a real estate tycoon. The almost unbearable hardships of the early pioneers are described realistically and intertwined with a beautiful love story. Maclvey makes his early fortune by driving cattle he catches in the woods all the way from central Florida town almost to the tip of western Florida. The origin of the word cracker comes from these brave men: cracker, a cattle rancher who cracks a whip. These early settlers faced wild animals, hurricanes, rustlers, mosquitoes and starvation as they turned the swamps of Florida into what we know it is today. The descriptions of the cattle drives, developing orange groves, the treatment of the Indians and the blacks are vivid and unforgettable.

[maryedawson-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is an iconic book where I'm from, the first to portray the history of the people who settled Florida and how they (we) affected the environment including the Seminoles who lived here before we came. Any technical flaws in story telling are ignored in response to the emotional impact it has on Floridians who love the southern half of their state. Sometimes the message is bigger than the medium.

[brone_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A beautiful epic about Cracker Florida

[kimmyd76 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book! The type of book that I dreaded to read when I was young but now they have become my faves. Three generations of MacIveys over a period of 110 years. A book of history, love, hardship, family and so much more!

[Ryan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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