3rd Edition! Bob Kealing is the author of six critically acclaimed books about Florida history and culture. He has founded four Florida Heritage sites, and was instrumental in the development of the Kerouac House in Orlando as the home of an active writers-in-residence program. Bob Kealing is a two-time Edward R. Murrow Award and six-time Emmy Award winning television reporter in Central Florida.

When Florida Breezes, or Florida New and Old was first published in 1882, residents of the state, and Tallahassee in particular, were not happy. Many of them bought the book by Ellen Call Long, just so they could burn it, reducing the number of copies in existence.

Box Broken Open is the story of Jacksonville architect Ted Pappas who was influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as Mid-Century Modern architects and proponents of Brutalism. Pappas often unites ancient tradition with contemporary vision.  

2022 Samuel Proctor Award Winner

John Wayne Mixson served as a Florida state representative, Florida lieutenant governor, and briefly as the 39th governor of Florida. The results of his work while filling these roles continue to positively impact the state of Florida and its citizens.

Author Sid Riley was a political columnist, managing editor, and part owner of The Jackson County Times newspaper. For this book, Riley conducted extensive oral history interviews with John Wayne Mixson, and his wife Margie Mixson.

This book is easy and interesting reading. It presents the life and legacy of the late Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune holistically and concludes with testimonies from living witnesses. The author narrates Dr. Bethune's early years and documents how developments in those years influenced her later accomplishments. Permeating Dr. Bethune's spectacular career is a philosophy based on deep religious convictions and held that work was honorable, no matter how menial the task. - Dr. Oswald P. Bronson President of Bethune-Cookman College, July 19, 2004

What We Have Endured tells the story of the Seminole Wars through the eyes of Aheedja, a Seminole woman who suffers through nearly a half-century of brutal warfare, forced displacement, and painful deprivation. Determined to remain in the land of their birth, she and her people struggle against the unforgiving Florida climate and the overwhelming military might of the United States government. Written by noted Seminole War historians and a senior tribal member, What We Have Endured faithfully follows the history of America's longest and costliest war against a Native American nation. Although Aheedja is a fictional character, the sufferings depicted are typical of what many Seminole people experienced at the hands of a nation determined to drive them from their homes and destroy their way of life.

2013 Samuel Proctor Award Winner

Lawton Chiles was one of the most inspirational and influential politicians to come from Florida. His unique campaign style and passion for improving people.s lives established a legacy that deserves recognition today. John Dos Passos Coggin conducted more than one hundred interviews with the friends, family, and co-workers of Lawton Chiles to create this definitive biography. Coggin.s insightful writing based on extensive research illuminates both the political career and personal life of the fascinating Lawton Chiles. The Florida Historical Society Press is proud to publish this important work.

2008 CHARLTON TEBEAU BOOK AWARD WINNER

“In this exciting book—part political history, part travelogue—Dorothy Smiljanich sheds light on 1960s Florida with her vivid portrayal of one of Florida’s most colorful political figures, Scott Kelly. Mayor of Lakeland at 28 and legislative power broker in his 30s, Kelly strode a wide path in the swirling political cauldron of 1960s Florida. Kelly twice came within an eyelash of being governor. This vivid portrayal of Kelly’s life begins in the Old Florida of tobacco and turpentine, and concludes with the New Florida of huge housing developments and super expressways, a Florida Kelly helped create.”
James M. Denham, Professor of History, Florida Southern College

River Road Stories is a little masterpiece of story telling. Mary Eschbach, a Rockledge resident, captures life along the Indian River as only a resident can. What a wonderful way to celebrate a way of life that has passed us all by! --Patrick Smith, author of A Land Remembered

There are some authors and some books that you start to read with interest and finish with envy. River Road Stories is such a book. Packed in a few pages, Stories manages to describe in great detail the daily humdrum and occasional excitement of a young girl's life along the Indian River Lagoon. At the same time, River Road Stories is a song of praise for a lifestyle that is largely gone, but which exists forever in the mind of the author. Once you read River Road Stories, you'll become part of the past. --Nick Wynne, PhD, The Florida Historical Society

In 1982, a backhoe operator working at what would become the new Windover Farms housing development in Titusville, Florida, uncovered a human skull. The bones of several other individuals soon emerged from the peat bog. It would be determined that the human remains uncovered at Windover were between 7,000 and 8,000 years old, making them 3,200 years older than King Tutankhamen and 2,000 years older than the Great Pyramids of Egypt. This was just the beginning of an archaeological adventure that continues today.