Brigands

2004 · 8623bd — Gainesville: University Press of Florida 2004. First Edition Advance Review Copy with publisher’s letter laid-in. Octavo red cloth & white boards hardcover xx 274 pp. Fine in a Fine dust jacket. From dust jacket: In the 1950s and ‘60s Jacksonville faced daunting problems. Critics described city government as boss-ridden expensive and corrupt. African Americans challenged racial segregation and public high schools were disaccredited. The St. Johns River and its tributaries were heavily polluted. Downtown development had succumbed to suburban sprawl. Endorsed by an almost two-to-one majority in 1967 the city of Jacksonville’s decision to consolidate with surrounding Duval County began a transformation of this conservative Deep South backwater city into a prosperous mainstream metropolis. James B. Crooks intorudces readers to preconsolidation Jacksonville and then focuses on three major issues that confronted the expanded city: racial relations environmental pollution and the revitalization of downtown. He shows the successes and setbacks of four mayors -- Hans G. Tanzler Jake Godbold Tommy Hazouri and Ed Austin -- in responding to these issues. During the administration of Mayor Hazouri from 1987 to 1991 Crooks was Jacksonville historian-in-residence at City Hall. Combining observations from this period with extensive interviews and documents he has written an urban history that will fascinate scholars of politics and governmental reform as well as residents of the First Coast City. University Press of Florida, (2004). First Edition, Advance Review Copy, with publisher’s letter laid-in. hardcover books