Discover the Untold Stories
Crackers in Paradise Volume I
Crackers in Paradise is an epic chronicle spanning seven generations of a Florida Cracker family, from 1843 to 1990. Drawn from seventy years of family memories preserved by the author, these stories illuminate the truth behind the myths and misconceptions surrounding the Florida Crackers, the original white settlers of rural Florida, whose lives shaped the very foundation of the state’s history.
Readers are transported into Florida’s rugged and often untamed past, where deep spiritual faith, resilient and determined women, and the harsh realities of racial and religious prejudice in the Jim Crow South come vividly to life. As Florida historian and ethnologist Dana Ste. Claire notes, understanding the history of the Florida Crackers is essential to understanding the history of Florida itself. Available now on Amazon.
Find out the rest of the story...step back into Old Florida, when the state was more Deep South than Gold Coast.
Volume II Now Available on Amazon!
Crackers in Paradise Volume II
In this sweeping family history, native Floridian and historian Thomas B. Rainey traces five generations of Cracker women and men as they navigate the upheavals of Florida’s economy, environment, and society from the Civil War into the modern era.
More than a memoir, this is a story of resilience, survival, and grit. At its core stand the women who held families together through tragedy, prejudice, and poverty, shaping the future of their children and communities. Rainey’s lyrical prose, echoing Faulkner with flashes of C.S. Lewis, makes Old Florida come alive with mystery, humor, and humanity.
Volume I left readers asking: how would the Rainey family face the new 20th century? The answer unfolds in unforgettable scenes:
Bonita, raised to be a proper young lady, learning strength in a shifting world. Bud and Buddy, roaming free in the untamed Florida wilderness of the 1910s and ’20s, where the Peace River and Big Charlie Apopka Creek offered “the best fishin’ in the South.” Weeks-long camps with only dogs, bacon, grits, and salt—living off the land, battling snakes, and mastering the arts of hunting and fishing. Buddy, fearless and devoted to his hunting dogs, treating the woods as a sacred place where cruelty and waste were forbidden. A dramatic rite of passage in the Everglades, where Seminole guide Billy Tiger Tail blessed fourteen-year-old Buddy after his first buck: “You a man now.”
Crackers in Paradise Volume II is now on Amazon and brings you vivid storytelling and deep historical insight, Crackers in Paradise Volume I and II are both an intimate family saga and a portrait of Florida itself—wild, raw, and unforgettable.
More From Thomas B. Rainey
Coming Soon...
Florida Frontier Preacher
Tom Rainey’s Florida Frontier Preacher gallops straight into the heart of Old Florida, tracing the bold and deeply human story of Reverend Thomas Austin Branch (1844–1898) and his fearless frontier family.
A Methodist preacher and cattleman, Branch rode through the wild backcountry with his Bible and sermons tucked in his saddlebag — and his faith tested at every turn. His “church” was the open range, his congregation the pioneers and cowmen scattered across a land still ruled by panthers, rustlers, and raw survival.
Available on Amazon December 1st