The quiet manatee has long been a flashpoint of environmental debates. It’s Florida’s most famous endangered species and its most controversial. In Manatee Insanity: Inside the War over Florida’s Most Famous Endangered Species, author and environmental reporter Craig Pittman provides the first in-depth history of the attempts to provide legal protection for these gentle giants. In Forces of Nature: A History of Florida Land Conservation, environmental lawyer Clay Henderson draws on historical sources, interviews, and his long law career to celebrate the organizations and individuals – from John Muir and Marjorie Stoneman Douglas to lesser-known figures such as Frank Chapman – who made the Sunshine State a leader in state-funded conservation and land preservation. And in The Everglades: Stories of Grit and Spirit from the Mangrove Wilderness (Pineapple Press), co-written with Holly Genzen, Anne McCrary Sullivan presents 21 stories from people who have ventured into the most expansive mangrove ecosystem in the western hemisphere – and came back with tales of manatee rescue, shark encounters, and breathtaking wild beauty. Moderated by Alan Scott, Everglades National Park chief of resource education and interpretation.

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