"Our" tropical lands: reinventions of California and Florida after the Civil War -- A climate for health and wealth: the lure of tropical leisure on American soil -- The fruits of labor: boosterist visions of republican renewal and semi-tropical agriculture -- Desert and swamp: the conquest of...

Just after the Civil War, two states prominently laid claim to being America's paradise destinations. Private companies, state agencies, and journalists all lent a hand in creating a seductive, expansionist imagery that promoted semitropical California and Florida and helped ""sell"" Americans...