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Loading... Marjory Stoneman Douglas : voice of the river, an autobiographyby Marjory Stoneman Douglas, John Rothchild
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Born in Minnesota in 1890 and raised and educated in Massachusetts, Marjory Stoneman Douglas came to Florida in 1915 to work for her father, who had just started a newspaper called the Herald in a small town called Miami. In this "frontier" town, she recovered from a misjudged marriage, learned to write journalism and fiction and drama, took on the fight for feminism and racial justice and conservation long before those causes became popular, and embarked on a long and uncommonly successful voyage into self-understanding. Way before women did this sort of thing, she recognized her own need for solitude and independence, and built her own little house away from town in an area called Coconut Grove. She still lives there, as she has for over 40 years, with her books and cats and causes, emerging frequently to speak, still a powerful force in ecopolitics. Marjory Stoneman Douglas begins this story of her life by admitting that "the hardest thing is to tell the truth about oneself" and ends it stating her belief that "life should be lived so vividly and so intensely that thoughts of another life, or a longer life, are not necessary." The voice that emerges in between is a voice from the past and a voice from the future, a voice of conviction and common sense with a sense of humor, a voice so many audiences have heard over the years--tough words in a genteel accent emerging from a tiny woman in a floppy hat--which has truly become the voice of the river. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)333.7Social sciences Economics Economics of land & energy Land, recreational and wilderness areas, energyLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.33)
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Wikipedia in English (5)
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Society editor for the Miami Herald, circa World War I, and a freelance writer between the world wars, Douglas wrote the classic Everglades: River of Grass in 1947 and launched a new career as conservationist. At 97, Douglas is still a potent force in Florida's environmental politics. With Rothchild, author of Up for Grabs, she here talks about her life; he has edited some 200 hours of tapes for a delightful portrait of an indomitable lady. Douglas's parents separated when she was six, and she grew up in New England with her mother's family. After graduating from Wellesley, she was married briefly, then, in 1915, joined her father in Miami and began her writing career. Rothchild gives us an affectionate introduction to the "tiny woman in the floppy hat." Photos.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
"Complaining about being old, nobody loves you, nobody comes to see you is a big mistake. Maybe people don't come to see you because you bore them to death," 97-year-old Douglas writes. This author/conservationist has been making headlines and boring few in Florida since 1915 when she began writing for the Miami Herald, the paper her father founded. Her story is wordy, chatty, and well worth wading through. Each page is packed with wit, insight, and common sense. Douglas also wrote the well-read The Everglades: river of grass (1947). Douglas's voice is as flowing and forceful as the river she writes about. Jo Cates, Poynter Inst. for Media Studies Lib., St. Petersburg, Fla.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.