An oversized, limited commemorative edition of acclaimed South Florida author Les Standiford s gripping true account of the extraordinary construction and spectacular demise of the Key West extension of Henry Flagler s Florida East Coast Railway, originally published in 2002 and now in its 20th printing. This edition, commemorating the completion of the Over-Sea Railroad, January 22, 1912, includes a linen cloth cover, special heavy stock, silver foil stamping, a double gatefold, a hand-tipped map, and 150 new and vintage photographs and illustrations. Curators and historians at the Library of Congress, the Monroe County Library in Key West, and at the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach assisted Creative Director Petra Mason with image sourcing, as did staff at The Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York. Many of the images in this edition have never been published before. A Books & Books Press production in association with Motherland Miami and The Henry Morrison Flagler Museum, Palm Beach, Florida. 328 pages10 1/2 x 8 1/2 150 illustrations HC ISBN 978-0-9839378-0-7$60.00"
" This is the remarkable true-life chronicle of one of America' s greatest engineering achievements, and how it was all blown to bits in a few hellish hours. No novelist could have invented such a stunning tale, or such unforgettable characters."
-- Carl Hiaasen, author of Basket Case
" Last Train to Paradise is a fast-moving and gripping story about one of the most ambitious and difficult engineering projects of the last century." -- Henry Petroski, author of Engineers of Dreams
" This is a wonderfully told tale, a strange and compelling story about a strange and compelling part of the world. With sharp, evocative reporting, the book captures an era, the Florida landscape, and the very human dream of doing the impossible."
-- Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief
" Last Train to Paradise is an extraordinary achievement, a nonfiction book as exciting and finely written as a first-rate novel, with the narrative drive of a locomotive. . . . Throw in Ernest Hemingway and some of the most dramatic scenes of the chaos of a hurricane ever written and you' ve got one hell of a spectacular book." -- James Hall,
author of Blackwater Sound and Under Cover of Daylight
" Only one thing could have stopped entrepreneur Henry Flagler: the most powerful storm ever to strike the United States. Les Standiford has given us a rousing-- a deeply sobering-- story of this 1935 collision between hubris and hurricane in the Florida Keys." -- Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed
" Last Train to Paradise is a mesmerizing account of Gilded Age titan HenryFlagler and his extraordinary dream to build a railroad across the sea. Henry Flagler' s quest to build an overseas railroad has all the elements of a classic Greek tragedy, and Les Standiford has captured both the man and his times with pitch perfect grace."
-- Connie May Fowler,
author of Before Women Had Wings and When Katie Wakes
"From the Hardcover edition."
"This is the remarkable true-life chronicle of one of America's greatest engineering achievements, and how it was all blown to bits in a few hellish hours. No novelist could have invented such a stunning tale, or such unforgettable characters."
--Carl Hiaasen, author of Basket Case
"Last Train to Paradise is a fast-moving and gripping story about one of the most ambitious and difficult engineering projects of the last century." --Henry Petroski, author of Engineers of Dreams
"This is a wonderfully told tale, a strange and compelling story about a strange and compelling part of the world. With sharp, evocative reporting, the book captures an era, the Florida landscape, and the very human dream of doing the impossible."
--Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief
"Last Train to Paradise is an extraordinary achievement, a nonfiction book as exciting and finely written as a first-rate novel, with the narrative drive of a locomotive. . . . Throw in Ernest Hemingway and some of the most dramatic scenes of the chaos of a hurricane ever written and you've got one hell of a spectacular book." --James Hall,
author of Blackwater Sound and Under Cover of Daylight
"Only one thing could have stopped entrepreneur Henry Flagler: the most powerful storm ever to strike the United States. Les Standiford has given us a rousing--a deeply sobering--story of this 1935 collision between hubris and hurricane in the Florida Keys." --Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed
"Last Train to Paradise is a mesmerizing account of Gilded Age titan Henry Flagler and his extraordinary dream to build a railroad across the sea. Henry Flagler's quest to build an overseas railroad has all the elements of a classic Greek tragedy, and Les Standiford has captured both the man and his times with pitch perfect grace."
--Connie May Fowler,
author of Before Women Had Wings and When Katie Wakes
"From the Hardcover edition."ed and peppered wit
