Eighteen of Florida’s best-loved writers here share with you their affection for Florida’s wild side—the beautiful heart of a state under siege from development. Carl Hiaasen, Randy Wayne White, Al Burt, Patrick Smith, the late Archie Carr, and others evoke a Florida thick with pinewoods, alligators, and palmetto scrub; ribboned by miles of coast and dune; blessed with backcountry lakes, rivers, creeks, and springs. Strip malls and concrete cannot tame this wild Florida, but they can kill it. These essays offer passionate argument why that should not be allowed to happen. Coming from a variety of backgrounds—fiction, journalism, poetry, and environmental writing—the writers turn their talent to one thing they have in common—a love for Florida’s natural beauty and a commitment to preserve it. Their essays—some old favorites, most appearing here for the first time—are both a celebration and a pointed reminder of what we stand to lose. Many of the areas singled out (the Lake Wales Ridge, the Panhandle’s Topsail Hill, Goethe State Forest, and Tampa’s Brooker Creek) were purchased through Florida’s Preservation 2000, one of the nation’s foremost land acquisition programs. All royalties from the book are being donated to the Florida chapter of The Nature Conservancy.