A tour through Florida's Everglades National Park introduces the park's flora, fauna, topography, history, weather, and attractions. The Coe Visitor Center, various trails, and Miccosukee and Seminole influences are all discussed. Additional features to aid in comprehension include a table of contents, informative captions and sidebars, detailed maps, map legends, a phonetic glossary, sources for further research, and an index.

Before 1947, when Marjory Stoneman Douglas named The Everglades a "river of grass," most people considered the area worthless. She brought the world's attention to the need to preserve The Everglades. In the Afterword, Michael Grunwald tells us what has happened to them since then. Grunwald points out that in 1947 the government was in the midst of establishing the Everglades National Park and turning loose the Army Corps of Engineers to control floods--both of which seemed like saviors for the Glades. But neither turned out to be the answer. Working from the research he did for his book, The Swamp, Grunwald offers an account of what went wrong and the many attempts to fix it, beginning with Save Our Everglades, which Douglas declared was "not nearly enough." Grunwald then lays out the intricacies (and inanities) of the more recent and ongoing CERP, the hugely expensive Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.

Vast, mysterious, and inaccessible for centuries, the Everglades is famous worldwide. Much of this unique landscape is protected within Everglades National Park, as are exotically named places such as Flamingo, Ten Thousand Islands, Florida Bay, Anhinga Trail, Shark Valley, and Pahayokee. Dedicated in 1947, the park receives nearly a million visitors in most years who come to experience the Everglades and its alligators, crocodiles, Florida panthers, anhingas, roseate spoonbills, and egrets. It was egrets--or rather, their courtship plumes decorating ladies' hats--that jump-started the movement to save the wetlands as a park. The Everglades was home to archaic people for thousands of years and also holds the stories of the indigenous Tequesta, Spanish and British colonialists, Mikasuki-speaking Native Americans (and the soldiers who sought to expel them), pioneer settlers, activists who created the park, residents of south Florida, and generations of visitors who have experienced the tropical wilderness of Everglades National Park.

A previous edition was published in 2007.

Presents all 50 national parks in alphabetical order.

Describes the Everglades National Park, including its location, history, plants and animals, weather, and activities for visitors. Includes a map activity.

Discusses the history of this national park, its geological features, trails, wildlife, dangers in the park, and efforts to preserve it.