Redneck Riviera

The author describes his odyssey to the Gulf Coast of the Florida Panhandle to claim his inheritance, two and a half acres of land purchased by his father, in a study of the clash of values that is tearing apart much of rural America.

Queering the Redneck Riviera recovers the forgotten and erased history of gay men and lesbians in North Florida, a region often overlooked in the story of the LGBTQ experience in the United States. Jerry Watkins reveals both the challenges these men and women faced in the years following World War II and the essential role they played in making the Emerald Coast a major tourist destination. In a state dedicated to selling an image of itself as a “family-friendly” tropical paradise and in an era of increasing moral panic and repression, queer people were forced to negotiate their identities and their places in society. Watkins re-creates queer life during this period, drawing from sources including newspaper articles, advertising and public relations campaigns, oral history accounts, government documents, and interrogation transcripts from the state’s Johns Committee. He discovers that postwar improvements in transportation infrastructure made it easier for queer people to reach safe spaces to socialize. He uncovers stories of gay and lesbian beach parties, bars, and friendship networks that spanned the South. The book also includes rare photos from the Emma Jones Society, a Pensacola-based group that boldly hosted gatherings and conventions in public places. Illuminating a community that boosted Florida’s emerging tourist economy and helped establish a visible LGBTQ presence in the Sunshine State, Watkins offers new insights about the relationships between sexuality, capitalism, and conservative morality in the second half of the twentieth century.

Can a mother's love heal the deepest wounds of a daughter's heart? That's the challenge for Dolly Devereaux, a thirty-something divorced mother from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Dolly has spent twenty years fighting tooth and nail to break free from the grasping tentacles of her poor, rural origins and work her way into the middle class. But can Dolly save April, her rebellious 18-year-old daughter, from the neglect of her absentee father and seduction by a local drug dealer and the exciting, dangerous world he offers? First, Dolly has to understand her own unrealistic relationships in order to reach her lost daughter. This powerful, emotional story weaves its way through the secret worlds of teenagers and the lives of the parents and grandparents who try to guide and nurture them. In this troubled time when love and loyalty are tested, a family must discover where their true bonds lie and escape their misconceptions of love. The tale is set against the gaudy backdrop of tourist-crazy Myrtle Beach, the epicenter of The Redneck Riviera. There, four women clash and ultimately forge the intensely loving, supportive family none of them were born into. In bookstores and ebookstores now.

Energetic, sexy, and funny -- Claire and Dan know there's a catch when rich and stingy Mrs. Shelby Bell invites them to be her guests at The Bell Sands, her oceanfront resort hotel east of Biloxi, Mississippi. They accept, but when they arrive at the hotel during a torrential rainstorm, they become caught up in a beauty contest run amok. No carefree bliss in sun and surf -- the Claibornes have their work cut out, trying to discover who's sabotaging the pageant and who's responsible for several murders. Meanwhile, a hurricane is blowing toward the Coast. As Claire and Dan get too close to the murderer, they find themselves cut loose at sea in the storm.

The Rise and Decline of the Redneck Riviera traces the development of the Florida-Alabama coast as a tourist destination from the late 1920s and early 1930s, when it was sparsely populated with "small fishing villages," through to the tragic and devastating BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010. Harvey H. Jackson III focuses on the stretch of coast from Mobile Bay and Gulf Shores, Alabama, east to Panama City, Florida--an area known as the "Redneck Riviera." Jackson explores the rise of this area as a vacation destination for the lower South's middle- and working-class families following World War II, the building boom of the 1950s and 1960s, and the emergence of the Spring Break "season." From the late sixties through 1979, severe hurricanes destroyed many small motels, cafes, bars, and early cottages that gave the small beach towns their essential character. A second building boom ensued in the 1980s dominated by high-rise condominiums and large resort hotels. Jackson traces the tensions surrounding the gentrification of the late 1980s and 1990s and the collapse of the housing market in 2008. While his major focus is on the social, cultural, and economic development, he also documents the environmental and financial impacts of natural disasters and the politics of beach access and dune and sea turtle protection. The Rise and Decline of the Redneck Riviera is the culmination of sixteen years of research drawn from local newspapers, interviews, documentaries, community histories, and several scholarly studies that have addressed parts of this region's history. From his 1950s-built family vacation cottage in Seagrove Beach, Florida, and on frequent trips to the Alabama coast, Jackson witnessed the changes that have come to the area and has recorded them in a personal, in-depth look at the history and culture of the coast. A Friends Fund Publication.

The book is about a southern Licensed Massage Therapist named Ms. Linnie Delmar. She uses her unusual unique style and different massage therapy techniques that sets her apart from all the others. She has worked with over 10 motion picture production companies and has traveled around the world working with well known A-list actors all of which have interesting stories to tell. She considers herself to be the female version of Forrest Gump due to doors continue to open for her because she has always been at the right place at the right time throughout her life of thrills and adventure. She has also managed to have four husbands on her life's journey. She wants women to listen to their inner spirit and pay attention to the warning signs that a mistake is on the way. Find out how she found her place and purpose in life without having a man to define her as the person she is today. She wants women to learn from the mistakes she has made about falling for a good looking, smooth talking, man who will steal your heart and try to trash your soul. Follow her into the light of life and happiness that were like ashes in the wind to her wild past and gave her the courage and strength to look forward to her future. Her story may inspire you, it may amuse you, but it will never bore you! Linnie's southern humor will entertain you and make you laugh with joy and cry with heartbreak!

For Dennis Covington, what began as a journalistic assignment - covering the trial of an Alabama preacher convicted of attempting to murder his wife with poisonous snakes - would evolve into a headlong plunge into a bizarre, mysterious, and ultimately irresistible world of unshakable faith: the world of holiness snake handling, where people drink strychnine, speak in tongues, lay hands on the sick, and, some claim, raise the dead. Set in the heart of Appalachia, Salvation on Sand Mountain is Covington's unsurpassed and chillingly captivating exploration of the nature, power, and extremity of faith - an exploration that gradually turns inward, until Covington finds himself taking up the snakes. University.

Since World War II, tourists have flocked to Florida's northwest Gulf Coast and sun and fun spots at Panama City Beach, Fort Walton Beach, and Pensacola Beach. Every year those visitors number in the millions. For those who long to recall how the vacationland appeared thirty, forty, or even fifty years ago, Tim Hollis has written Florida's Miracle Strip: From Redneck Riviera to Emerald Coast. In a style that informs and entertains, Hollis describes the rise of early developments, such as Long Beach Resort, and major tourist attractions, such as the Gulfarium and the Miracle Strip Amusement Park. With heartfelt nostalgia and a dose of tongue-in-cheek, he reminisces on the motels and tourist cottages; the restaurants, such as Captain Anderson's and Staff's; the elaborate miniature golf courses, such as Goofy Golf and its many imitators. He takes a special delight in recovering the memories of those quirky businesses that now exist only in faded photographs and aging postcards, such wacky tourist traps as Castle Dracula, Petticoat Junction, Tombstone Territory, and the Snake-A-Torium. In the book, Hollis examines how this area became known as the "Miracle Strip," and how the local chambers of commerce got so tired of that image that the name gradually fell into disuse. The book is illustrated with a profusion of vintage photos and advertisements, most of which have not been seen in print since their original appearances. For the nostalgia lover, the snowbird, the tourist seeking yesteryear, Florida's Miracle Strip: From Redneck Riviera to Emerald Coast will be a welcome traveling companion.