Seeking the American Tropics: South Florida's Early Naturalists

For centuries, the southernmost region of the Florida peninsula was seen by outsiders as wild and inaccessible, one of the last frontiers in the quest to understand and reveal the natural history of the continent. Seeking the American Tropics tells the stories of the explorers and adventurers who—for better and for worse—helped open the unique environment of South Florida to the world.

Beginning with the arrival of Juan Ponce de León in 1513, James Kushlan describes how most of the famous Sp...