"The story behind how city officials marketed St. Petersburg to build it into a vacation hotspot"--

St. Petersburg was the first American city to hire a public relations director and the first to initiate a successful advertising program. More than almost any other Florida city, St. Petersburg relied on a constant message in postcards, newspaper editorials, print ads and broadcast commercials to market itself as the nation's playground. By the early 1900s, this sleepy fishing village had become the tourist destination of choice for thousands of winter-weary northerners. Early enthusiasts claimed the sun-filled peninsula was "the southern garden of perpetual well-being." Their methods ranged from serious academic papers to outrageous bathing suit inspections and "world record" schemes. Join" "historian Nevin D. Sitler as he presents an entertaining look at the men who crafted the promotion of paradise..

Step onto the field and bear witness to baseball's outsized impact on Florida's Sunshine City.

A fun- and fact-filled investigation into why the Sunshine State is the weirdest but also the most influential state in the Union.

A History of American State and Local Economic Development relates the history of American local and state economic development from 1790 to 2000. This multi-variable, multi-disciplinary history employs a bottom-up policy-making systems approach while exploring the three eras of economic development.

During the Roaring Twenties, millions of Americans moved to the Sunshine State seeking quick riches in real estate. Many made fortunes; others returned home penniless. Within a few years thousands of residential subdivisions, palatial estates, inviting apartment buildings and impressive commercial complexes were built. Opulent theaters and imposing churches opened, along with hundreds of municipal projects. A unique architectural theme emerged, today known as Mediterranean Revival. Railways and highways saw a renaissance. New cities--Boca Raton, Hollywood-by-the-Sea, Venice--were built from scratch and dozens of existing communities like St. Petersburg, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando were forever transformed by the speculative fever. Florida has experienced numerous land booms but none more sweeping than that of the 1920s. This illuminating account details how one of the greatest migration and development episodes in American history began, reached dizzying heights, then rapidly collapsed.