In wonder and gratitude, prize-winning photographer John Moran travels the Sunshine State with his cameras, seeking his vision of natural Florida as it must have appeared to Ponce de Leon and other early strangers in paradise. This remarkable collection of images and essays celebrates the magic of a landscape born of water, he writes, and "blessed with beauty beyond measure." The book caps Moran's 20-year odyssey to discover the soul of one of the most photographed states in the country. Still, he says, for a photographer who works on the road, he doesn't get around very much. The outer...

The alligator Florida s most feared, maligned animal. From the time European settlers first stepped onto Florida soil, the alligator has been a target of dread and revulsion and the hunter s gun.

Collected here are true (and tongue-in-cheek) accounts of alligators and the people who have hunted them, been attacked by them, and tried to save them from extinction. Journey through the Everglades with 1800 s Seminoles, experts at stalking and killing gators. Go along with a Northern girl as she shoots my first alligator in my glove and veil. And learn how modern alligator hunters go about...