The Swamp

The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise

By: Michael Grunwald

Narrated by: Adam Verner

The Everglades was America's last frontier, a wild country long after the West was won. In this book Michael Grunwald chronicles how a series of visionaries tried to drain and "reclaim" it and how Mother Nature refused to bend to their will; in the most harrowing tale, a 1928 hurricane drowned 2,500 people in the Everglades. But the Army Corps of Engineers finally tamed the beast with levees and canals, converting half the Everglades into sprawling suburbs and sugar plantations. And though the Southern Everglades was preserved as a national park, it soon deteriorated into an ecological mess. The River of Grass stopped flowing, and 90 percent of its wading birds vanished.

Now America wants its swamp back. Grunwald shows how a new breed of visionaries transformed Everglades politics, producing the $8 billion rescue plan. That plan is already the blueprint for a new worldwide era of ecosystem restoration. And The Swamp is a cautionary tale for that era. Through gripping narrative and dogged reporting, Grunwald shows how the Everglades is still threatened by the same hubris, greed, and well-intentioned folly that led to its decline.

©2006 Michael Grunwald (P)2016 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Grunwald brings the zeal of his profession - and the skill that won him a Society of Environmental Journalists Award in 2003 - to this enthralling story." ( Publishers Weekly)

Great piece of south Florida history

The book was an interesting saga of my beloved backyard. From the construction of Chokoloskee island to the straightening of the Kissimmee river, this book covers the engineering battle to drain the swamp, then the political war to restore it.

Florida forever

Let’s save Florida!!!
I hope the panther population can be revived, I hope we can clean up the Everglades for all to enjoy!

Great book, bad narration ...

The only problem with the book is that it could have used more frequent reminders of years along the chronology (e.g.., “by 1989 ...”) Otherwise, excellent.

The narration wasn’t all that bad but for the repeated mispronunciation of Kissimmee - the guy actually adds a syllable(!), and it occurs well over a hundred times in the book. It really kills it.

Historical detail was on point.

As a person who loves the Everglades and has been involved with FL politics, I found this audio to be very informative. It did dust over some occurrences, at least they were included. Todays Florida politics seems more destined to destroy "The Swamp" then it has even been.

Great listen

I learned so much about the Everglades ecosystem and history of environmental activism. Highly recommend!

Perfect read

Michael Grunwald knows his Everglades, our Everglades. He is a master of getting to basics and bottom of his subject. The book actually reads like a suspense tale and the final outcome is unknown. But thanks to this book I both understand and have great hope for its future. Bitterly ironic that the name of the book’s hero — who lived to 108, as feisty as ever until the end — is now linked to another place of death and destruction, Margory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland Florida. The narrator has the perfect voice. My one and only gripe, coming on the last pages of the book: the pronunciation of kudzu! Codzow? Close, but I don’t think I have ever heard it said that way :)

Narrators usually know how to read

Overall this wasn’t bad, but being a Florida native of nearly half a century, I can’t help but cringe every time the narrator added a syllable to “Kissimmee”

KISSIMMEE, not “Kissiminnee. Once or twice, okay, but dozens upon dozens? It makes for a difficult listen. That said, the parts he DID get right were very well done.

Wonderful Book with Glaring Narration Problem

This is fascinating story about the history of the everglades from the time of the earliest white settlers until the early 21st century. It's meticulously researched, well-written and interesting from beginning to end. The quotation from primary sources I found particularly helpful, as they provide a window into how people thought about South Florida over the last 250 years or so. The narrator, though, has likely never been to Florida - at least he's never heard the word "Kissimmee" (pronounced, "kis-SIM-mee) before. Throughout the entire book, he pronounces it as "Kissimminnee." It's terribly distracting, especially in the latter parts of the book where restoring the Kissimmee River becomes a major theme.

Absolutely fantastic insight

As a transplant to where America comes to die land, I suffered identify theft the day I got my new driver’s license. Got sued for grievous bodily harm by a registered sex offender (think twice, that gets noted on your license folks!) who backed into me at a light- by one of those personal injury lawyers you see ever 10 feet on billboards everywhere. Where billboards for abuse and trafficking services announce “she’s your daughter not your date”. Where you always have to check price discrepancies at the register in the grocery store because it will cost you ten dollars if you don’t. I began to wonder why Floridians are so special. This history of Florida provides the answer. In spades.

what everyone should know about the Everglades!

well written and well spoken. A detailed historical account of the Florida Everglades and of Florida itself.