The Florida Life of Thomas Edison | 
 enlarge | Author: Michele Wehrwein Albion
Publisher: University Press of Florida
Category: Book
List Price: $34.95
Buy New: $19.95
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Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 584243
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6.3 x 1.1
ISBN: 0813032598
Dewey Decimal Number: 621.3092
EAN: 9780813032597
ASIN: 0813032598
Publication Date: September 4, 2008
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Product Description
Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) was America's most famous and, arguably, most prolific, inventor. But few realize the extent to which he called Florida, not New Jersey, home.From 1885 until his death in 1931, Edison and his family wintered in the sleepy Gulf Coast town of Fort Myers, south of Tampa. There, they were the pride of the small town, which eagerly watched to see what magic the Wizard would conjure. The local newspaper chronicled Edison's local experiments, his establishment of a laboratory in town, and his successful efforts to electrify the area.Edison's presence encouraged Henry Ford to build a Florida estate next door. Edison's experiments with rubber from local plants intrigued Ford and Harvey Firestone, who was also frequently in the area.Using a wide range of little-known resources, including photographs, manuscripts, maps, and newspaper accounts, Michele Albion explores an important facet of Edison's life that is largely unknown. In doing so, she presents the full story of his professional and leisure time while on holiday. Particularly interesting is the impact his wife, Mina, had on the culture and community of Fort Myers. "The Florida Life of Thomas Edison" reveals how the Edisons' legacy influenced women's history, environmental history, black history, and Florida history.This book helps readers spend time with some of Florida's most famous snowbirds.
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Albion's Eye for Detail October 2, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
From Publishers Weekly:
The Florida Life of Thomas Edison
Michele Wehrwein Albion. Univ. Press of Florida,
$34.95 (264p) ISBN 978-0-8130-32559-7
This is both a portrait of Thomas Edison and a record of the vast changes to the region of Fort Myers, Fla., as it grew from a remote and unspoiled wilderness into a popular modern resort area with the attendant problems of overdevelopment and environmental damage. When Edison decided in 1885 to build a winter retreat and laboratory in Fort Myers, the region
was regarded as a "frontier outpost." The local paper proudly announced Edison's decision, and the town enjoyed an economic boom as construction progressed on the inventor's compound. Edison's new second wife, young Ohio-born Mina Miller,arrived in Fort Myers in 1886 and initially
found the lack of running water and abundance of bugs "miserable." But she
grew to love the place and became a strong advocate for both the people and the environment. Albion, former curator of the Edison and Ford Winter Estates,writes with an eye for extraordinary as well as ordinary details, from the difficult task of lighting Fort Myers in the late 1880s to family expeditions up the Caloosahatchee River and into the Everglades.
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