Reubin O'D. Askew and the Golden Age of Florida Politics
Reubin O'D. Askew and the Golden Age of Florida Politics
Inside the reinvention of Florida politics
Florida Book Awards, Bronze Medal for Florida Nonfiction
Reubin Askew was swept into the governor’s office in 1970 as part of a remarkable wave of progressive politics and legislative reform in Florida. A man of uncompromising principle and independence, he was elected primarily on a platform of tax reform.
In the years that followed, Askew led a group of politicians from both parties who sought—and achieved—judicial reform, redistricting, busing and desegregation, the end of the Cross Florida Barge Canal, the Sunshine Amendment, and much more.
This period was truly a golden age of Florida politics, and Martin Dyckman’s narrative is well written, fast paced, and reads like a novel. Dyckman also reveals how the return of special interests, the rise of partisan politics, unlimited campaign spending, term limits, gerrymandering, and more have eroded the achievements of the Golden Age in subsequent decades.
“[A] must-read biography.”—Tampa Bay Times
“Dyckman uses his understanding of the inner workings of Florida government, combined with a journalist’s eye for fascinating detail, to create a full portrait of Askew and those who played significant roles in leading Florida in the 1970s.”—Tampa Bay History
“An interesting, well-written window into a time that Florida’s leaders were racing to transform it into the modern state that its mushrooming population required.”—Florida Bar Journal
“One will not find a more vivid or more compelling portrayal of Florida politics and government in the last third of the twentieth century.”—Journal of Southern History
“Dyckman does a masterful job. . . . Only someone who was there, as Dyckman was, tracking events on a daily basis, could provide such a nuanced account.”—Florida Historical Quarterly
"If I were asked to recommend just one book about my state that would remind us all of the power of real policy and real leadership, I would recommend this one. This is a fascinating history, with lessons for all of us, written by one of the best journalists this state has ever known."—David Lawrence Jr., publisher, Miami Herald (retired)
"Perhaps no one alive has a better vantage point to write this book than Martin Dyckman. As Florida’s premier legislative reporter in the 1960s-1980s, Dyckman covered the people and policies discussed here, and his skilled, smooth, fast-paced writing style shines through."—James M. Denham, director, Lawton Chiles Center for Florida History, Florida Southern College
