In the words of journalist Marjory Stoneman Douglas (1890-1998), the Everglades is a "river of grass," flowing gently from Lake Okeechobee through central and south Florida until it meets the sea. But when the first white men arrived, they saw the Everglades as a wasteland, a swamp full of loathsome reptiles that was only suitable for drainage and development for industry and agriculture. Filmmaker Randall MacLowry’s PBS-aired American Experience documentary depicts the checkered history of the Everglades, primarily from its late-19th-century boom days, up through the era of "land suckers" who bought land only to find it under water, and on to the massive drainage projects and alternating periods of drought and deadly floods. A common theme here is human greed, arrogance, and ignorance—running roughshod over nature, animals, and the rights of the Seminoles, who fled south for safety when uprooted from their southern tribal lands. Early boosters such as Governor Napoleon S. Broward promoted the area as an "Eden of America," and "America’s new heartland," while naturalist John Muir and other visionaries appreciated its vastness, biodiversity, and solitude. An east-west highway through the Everglades, coupled with dam projects and soil depletion excavation efforts, eventually led to worsened droughts, wildfires, and disastrous floods, killing thousands during hurricanes in the 1920s. But FDR later saw the potential for a national park—a tough sell for a landscape mostly lacking in landmarks—and a park was created in 1947 (although greatly reduced in acreage). Historian Douglas Brinkley and others discuss the legacy of journalist Douglas’s writing on the Everglades, the challenge of balancing competing regional interests, and the moral test of meeting the needs of people while also preserving wilderness. Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (S. Rees)
The Swamp
(2019) 120 min. DVD: $24.99 ($54.99 w/PPR). PBS Video. SDH captioned. ISBN: 978-1-5317-0625-8. Volume 34, Issue 4
The Swamp
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