REVIEWS
What People Are Saying About Crackers in Paradise
"Crackers in Paradise combines a history of central Florida with a compelling account of Tom's family, a wonderful melange of farmers, cattlemen, occasional preachers and a latter day small town quasi elite.
An early and compelling chapter was the marriage of Louisa Alderman Branch and Thomas Austin Branch and their five daughters. They were part of the free-range cattle industry that figures prominently in the Florida frontier.
One of the daughters, Effie, married well, to an ambitious young man named Homer Rainey. The author's discovery of Effie's photograph is a particularly affecting part of the story. His account of life in Wauchula, his own and his relatives, is a mix of good times and bad, of failures and insecurities. Drinking was a destructive force in his family most notably with his parents. He had to overcome an inbred racial and religious bigotry, not a rarity in the Jim Crow South. He was also blessed with a number of talented and sensitive teachers, more appreciated in retrospect.
Rainey has given us a splendid volume of history and a scintillating personal commentary."
​
John T. Hubbell (AKA Watash)
Professor Emeritus of History, Kent State University
​Director Emeritus of Kent State University Press
Kent, Ohio
"The things that made the stories in Crackers in Paradise touch me most were Rainey's personal memories of his close relationship with his Grandfather Homer, Aunt Bonita and cousin Rainey Swann, along with his precocious inclination to listen attentively and remember the stories told by his elders. Memories of such relationships are so durable and powerfully moving.
The detail, depth and creative imagery Rainey provides in this very personal story will make it a treasure for generations to come, and an inspiration for anyone interested in recording their own family history. It also provides many lessons about political, social and economic impacts on families and the responses, both heroic and tragic, of individuals within those families.
It is truly a great story, well told."
​
Jim Hidy
US Forrester
Naselle, Washington