Reviews
"Michel Oesterreicher has given us a richly revealing portrait of life in rural northeast Florida in the first half of the 20th century; a frontier Florida that has now vanished under the pressures of growth and development. Both the general reader and the historian will find this moving account of one family absorbing and well worth their time." -Joan S. Carver, Jacksonville University, "This is a personalized account of what it was like to live and work and raise a family in the backwoods of northeast Florida during the last 100 years. The anecdotes and biographical details show just how difficult that life was, especially away from the big cities of Jacksonville and St. Augustine." -Kevin M. McCarthy, The University of Florida, "This is a personalized account of what it was like to live and work and raise a family in the backwoods of northeast Florida during the last 100 years. The anecdotes and biographical details show just how difficult that life was, especially away from the big cities of Jacksonville and St. Augustine." --Kevin M. McCarthy, The University of Florida, "Through a series of oral interviews with her mother and father, Michel Oesterreicher elegantly crafts together thirty short chapters which bring to life her parent's childhood and adult experiences. 'All of the interviews in this book," writes the author, "are based on actual events discussed in those interviews. At no time did I introduce emotions or responses to these events other than the ones Hugie and Oleta said they had. At all times, I strove for an honest, clear narrative, true to my parents and free from my own sentiments.'... One can not read these stories without thinking of Marjorie Kinnan Rawling's Cross Creek. Indeed, these stories are just as compelling. There are even Faulknerian qualities to some of the characters, particularly Oleta's mother whose life of hard work and toil found little reward from her uncaring husband. Annie Sadler Brown lived a life of many hardships. When her husband died, leaving her alone with two daughters on their farm, she resumed her daily labors with a pistol strapped over her blue apron. Oleta would never forget that image of her mother, nor would she ever forget the night when-after a hard day's work-she unstrapped her pistol, exchanged her apron for a dress, combed her hair, and accompanied her young daughters to a dance. The University of Alabama Press has produced yet another excellent book on Florida. Gracefully written, it offers one of the most compelling images of rural life in early 20th-century Florida that exists in print. It should enjoy wide readership." --James M. Denham, Florida Southern College, in The Florida Historical Quarterly, "Michel Oesterreicher has given us a richly revealing portrait of life in rural northeast Florida in the first half of the 20th century; a frontier Florida that has now vanished under the pressures of growth and development. Both the general reader and the historian will find this moving account of one family absorbing and well worth their time." --Joan S. Carver, Jacksonville University
