Steve Glassman – författare

This book examines 24 crime novelists who set their work in the Sunshine State. From James W. Hall's Under Cover of Daylight in the Florida Keys, to Barbara Parker's Suspicion of Betrayal in Miami to Tim Dorsey's Florida Roadkill at Cape Canaveral and Tampa, these writers and their works span all of Florida's 67 counties. A biographical sketch of each author precedes an interview by a critic who has immersed him- or herself in the novelist's works, producing interview-essays of noteworthy perception and insight.

This book provides the first critical discussion of popular culture in Florida, which began drawing winter visitors before the Civil War and now boasts more than a hundred million visitors annually. These essays explore many facets of Florida's culture, examining such topics as the ever-present specters of Mickey, Shamu, and other theme park staples; early tourist sites enjoyed by tin-can campers before the ubiquitous megaparks elbowed out more organically Floridian attractions; Key West as a mecca of queer culture; the infamous relationship between Key West and its favorite son, Ernest Hemingway; and an overview of several iconic Florida institutions, including Bike Week, the Daytona 500, and Spring Break. The work concludes with a look at Florida's role in the highly controversial presidential election of 2000.

Telling the story of the Maya peoples from their earliest beginnings to the start of the 20th century, this book divides the 3,000 year time span into seven distinct sections. Each provides a detailed vignette of the events, explorers, and people of a particular Maya era, starting with the tropical lowlands' Olmec civilization. Among the topics covered are the shamanistic rites by which Mesoamerican monarchs based their power to rule; the Preclassic megacity of El Mirador and its near neighbor Nakbe; the Maya creation myth of the Hero Twins and its role in organizing Maya society; and the power struggles between the cities Tikal and Calakmul.

In October 1839, American travel writer John Lloyd Stephens climbed upon a mule in the Mico Mountains of eastern Guatemala to explore an obscure land with ""volcanoes and earthquakes, torn and distracted by civil war."" Accompanied by the talented and intrepid illustrator, Frederick Catherwood, Stephens embarked on an epic journey to find and describe the lost cities of the Maya. His ""Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan"" appeared in 1841 and was an instant success, selling an unprecendented 20,000 copies in the first three months.

A Mesoamerican travel book from two perspectives and two centuries.

In 1839 John Lloyd Stephens, then 31 years old, and his traveling companion, artist Frederick Catherwood, disappeared into the vast rain forest of eastern Guatemala. They had heard rumors that remains of a civilization of incomparable artistic and cultural merit were moldering in the steamy lowland jungles. They braved Indian uprisings, road agents, heat, and biting insects to eventually encounter what is today known as the lost civilization of the Maya.

In 1841 Stephens published Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan to instant acclaim with both American and international audiences. His conversational style was fresh and crisp and his subject matter, the search for lost cities on the Central American isthmus, was romantic and adventurous. Stephens''s book has been characterized as the "great American nonfiction narrative of the 19th century." Indeed, what Stephens wrote about the Maya makes a major contribution to Maya studies.

Steve Glassman retraces Stephens''s route, visiting the same archaeological sites, towns, markets, and churches and meeting along the way the descendants of those people Stephens described, from mestizo en route to the cornfields to town elders welcoming the Norte Americanos. Glassman''s work interlaces discussion of the history, natural environment, and architecture of the region with descriptions of the people who live and work there. Glassman compares his 20th-century experience with Stephens''s 19th-century exploration, gazing in awe at the same monumental pyramids, eating similar foods, and avoiding the political clashes that disrupt the governments and economies of the area.

Stephens''s books are still widely available, but his importance to literary professionals has been overlooked. With this new travelogue, Glassman reaffirms Stephens''s reputation and brings his work to wider critical and public attention.