Salvaging the Real Florida

Lost and Found in the State of Dreams

By: Bill Belleville

Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach

Bill Belleville's enchanting Salvaging the Real Florida invites listeners to rediscover treasures hidden in plain sight. Join Belleville as he paddles a glowing lagoon, slogs through a swamp, explores a spring cave, dives a "literary" shipwreck, and pays a visit to the colorful historic district of an old riverboat town. Journey with him in search of the apple snail, the black bear, a rare cave-dwelling shrimp, and more. Everywhere he goes, Belleville finds beauty, intrigue, and, more often than not, a legacy in peril.

Following in the tradition of John Muir, William Bartram, and Henry David Thoreau, Belleville forges intimate connections with his surroundings. Like the works of Marjory Stoneman Douglas and Archie Carr, his evocative stories carry an urgent and important call to preserve what is left of the natural world.

The is published by University Press of Florida.

©2011 Bill Belleville (P)2013 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Bill Belleville writes gorgeously and straight from the heart." (Carl Hiaasen)

“Belleville is our William Bartram, the poet of Florida's fragile beauty, a passionate, intelligent chronicler of our disappearing wonders." (Diane Roberts, author of Dream State)

Good but...

Reader mispronounced many local words. if you aren't from Florida probably won't bother you. Otherwise good, insightful.

Good writer but pretentious.

It was okay but there was an underlying tone of arrogance in the author's voice that ended up sounding like everyone else that moves to the South and then tries to change it to their idea of what is best and right in life. Generally ends up being just what they were running from. Stopped at the point that he generalized the hog hunter as some redneck drinking Jack out of a flask. This fella isn't any better than the City dwellers that take their weekend adventures then retreat to the comfort of their insular existence. Even worse because he recognizes those as Exo-Ninnys yet is only one step removed and probably in the wrong direction. The narrator mispronounced more local words than I can count. Read A Land Remembered for a slice of the real Florida and the crackers who knew it.