Florida: Past and Present

Upham, Samuel C. (Samuel Curtis), 1819-1885Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 159K words
Chapters: 16

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Florida: Past and present by Samuel C. UphamAuthor: Upham, Samuel C. (Samuel Curtis), 1819-1885,Language: English, Class: F296: United States local history: Gulf States. West Florida, Release Date: Nov 15, 2013

Editor's review

This is a local history of Florida by the 19th-century American author Samuel C. Upham, released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain e-book. Its value lies not in offering the latest contemporary information on Florida but in showing how a 19th-century author narrated the state's historical development, natural features, and social change, giving it significance both as historical source material and as a specimen of publishing history. The narrative bears clear marks of its era and the author's perspective, so readers can gain background knowledge of early Florida development while also observing the language habits and value orientations of American local-history writing of the time. As a public-domain e-book it is easy to obtain and moderate in length, suitable as supplementary material for American history, regional history, or reading English originals. Read it with a critical eye toward its era's biases and narrative stance, treating it as a historical document rather than a modern travel or research guide.

Who it's for

A good fit for

University teachers, students, and enthusiasts studying American regional history or Florida local history
Readers who need 19th-century English local-history originals for linguistic or textual analysis
Readers interested in Project Gutenberg public-domain e-books and early publishing history
Self-learners who want to broaden their reading of American history through English originals

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking contemporary Florida travel, economic, or policy information
Readers who need a systematic, modern scholarly edition of a comprehensive Florida history
Those with limited English reading ability who want an easy Chinese introduction

Reading tips

Read the table of contents and preface first to understand the author's narrative framework and period, then decide which chapters to read closely.
Read alongside modern works on Florida history, taking care to distinguish 19th-century narrative from contemporary research findings.
Take notes on place names, people, and events as you go, building your own timeline and list of questions.
Set aside passages expressing the era's biases as material for discussion in critical reading.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this a newly written contemporary history of Florida?

No. It is a local-history work by the 19th-century author Upham, with an electronic edition released by Project Gutenberg in 2013. It reflects the understanding and narrative style of the author's era and cannot replace modern scholarship; it should be read alongside contemporary research.

Can readers with average English read this book?

This is an English original whose sentence patterns and vocabulary carry a 19th-century style, placing certain demands on English reading. Readers with average ability can use a dictionary and a translation for support, or start with shorter chapters and adapt to the style before reading the whole book.

Can the historical information in the book be cited directly?

It can be cited as a historical text, but it should not be used directly as factual evidence. Verify against modern scholarly editions or authoritative historical works, and when citing, note that this is a 19th-century author's personal account, mindful of its period limitations and possible biases.

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About the author

Upham, Samuel C. (Samuel Curtis), 1819-1885 Author · American · 1819–1885

Samuel C. Upham (1819–1885) was an American businessman and writer. Public information about his life is limited; what can be confirmed is that he traveled to California during the Gold Rush and left behind a travel account based on his firsthand experiences. One work by him is held in the collection, Florida: Past and Present, which suggests that his writing also covered travel observations and descriptions of local conditions. Writing of this kind typically draws on an eyewitness's observations and emphasizes a factual record of the places and conditions encountered along the way, offering some reference value for understanding nineteenth-century American mobility across regions and local writing. On the whole, Upham was not known as a literary author; his writings are better understood as records of his times.