Go to our website gives your email address will send you emails about every thing going on at this location and other locations item up anyones been down the Coconut Grove recently but we do the events there is well. Nothing worth mentioning down at the adrian art center, have on january 26 at 6 30 p. M. Isabel will be joining us and you can buy tickets at the art center. Org. A number of wonderful events you can visit us here, we do farm to table dinners, we do podcast with a lot of our authors, you want to tune into that be could only do that by accessing the webpage, so please visit there. We are very happy this evening to have with us mr. Christopher knowlton, the bubble in the sun, the boom of florida 1920s. So its our fault. So about their Something Else involved. Christopher is a former staff writer and london brief of the london magazine he spent 15 years the investment business. His previous book was cattle kingdom, the Hidden History of the cal boyd wes, please give them a nice warm welcome. [applause] thank you steve, i appreciate that good evening everybody. I really appreciate your coming. Its nice to be back in coral gables. Seems like just yesterday i was here researching the career of George Merrick who is the founder of coral gables. And that was for this book bubble in the sun. The book is about the florida in the roaring 20s. More specifically its about the florida land boom which as you may know what was the greatest land boom in American History. And as it happens, one of the most impactful because of the role it played in the events that led up to the Great Depression. At the moment, as a writer, im specializing in writing about these unusual speculative frenzies. My previous book, cattle kingdom, published in 2017 was about the open range cattle area after the civil war. Thats the cowboy era. And i discovered that there is really little more than an investment bubble a lot like the. Com bubble of the 1990s. And that instead of young men going out to california to joints tech companies, they went out to colorado in wyoming and montana to become cowboys and join cattle ranches. And one of these was of course Teddy Roosevelt who is one of the protagonist. When i began prospecting for a sequel to cattle kingdom, i quickly hit on the florida land boom of the 1920s which was something i was familiar with. I grew up with grandparents on both coasts of florida both of whom had lived through the roaring 20s and i also had a grandfather he was a Real Estate Developer, a greatgrandfather who is a Real Estate Developer in westchester new york. Who lost everything in the Great Depression. So the subject matter spoke to me. And a bubble in the sun looks like it will be the second of whats likely to be a trilogy and the third will be about the uranium boom in the 1950s which was the last american gold rush. So these frenzies make a very good subjects for works of narrative nonfiction of which this is. Because they have a natural builtin narrative arc. You have the merging of the boom, which is in this case, the building of the roads and the railroads and the arrival of key figures in florida and the years leading up to the boom. And you have the giddiness of the frenzy itself. Which could be described as one gigantic party. And that of course is followed by the pain and tragedy of the bust. Which is the hangover. Now i think these are very american stories. Because every generation registers one or two such booms and busts in everyone learns a few painful lessons from it. Really part and parcel living in a Free Enterprise system with free market capitalism. But i like to think there is a more serious aspect to what im doing. Ive come to believe that we need to look under the proverbial hood of these frenzies. To better understand why they arose, what went wrong, and who or what might be to blame. Because the economist john wrote, regulation that outlaws financial info do it he or mass euphoria is not the practical possibility. In other words, you cant legislate away human gullibility. So i think it is up to books like these to explain how these events happened and how to teach people to be more careful with their investments. And not to be seduced by such speculative frenzies because they do keep on occurring. So these are Cautionary Tales i realize there hasnt been an a book of the history of the land boom couples short stories, nothing thats been thoroughly researched and definitive its got endnotes in a pig and champ bibliography. In fact theres been very few histories of Real Estate Development or real estate speculation ever written. And that is odd given how many Great American fortunes have been made in real estate think given odd to given estate speculation dates back to the earliest days of the republic you can argue that Christopher Columbus was shopping for real estate for the spanish crown for example of the story of john jacob asked her expanding deferred trade into manhattan real estate. So i sought obvious opportunity here and the more i looked into it, the more fertile the territory began to appear. For one things obviously rich subject matter great chance to write about a fascinating. In American History because the 20s was an especially colorful decade that was replete with jazz, flappers alert prohibition from running out Capone Babe Ruth radios, automobiles, all of which i touched on in the book. So here for instance, is the books description of al capone. 6 feet tall and weighing 240 pounds they gangster dressed immaculately when he went out on the town. Favoring a dark blue doublebreasted suit adorned with aye linen pocket square and a matching polkadot necktie. He wore a gold and diamond studded watch chain that he had a habit of fiddling with and on one pinky finger, a 4carat diamond ring and a platinum setting. Frank j wilson, United States secret Service Agent who finally brought him down by convicting him for tax evasion recalled big al having dark eyes thick lips perfect teeth, quote a big flapping paw and dainty manicured nails, unquote 6inch scar from a knife fight in a bar and down his left cheek when the mobster pulled out a sick silk handkerchief, wilson got a with of his cologne, lily of the valley. But back to the conceiving of the book, there was yet another angle to this story. And asked with my first book, cattle kingdom, there is an environmental story to be told. What happens started in the 1920s to the everglades. Floridas primary aquifer, i dont need to tell you. Specifically, the building of the tamiami trail during the decade which cut off most or much of the water flow to the southern everglades. With disastrous consequences for the wildlife and for the entire ecosystem. It was shortsighted from Economic Development standpoint two. Now that environmental story is an important component of this book. Because i firmly believe we can no longer separate economic wellbeing from environmental wellbeing they are tied at the hip. British Prime Minister margaret thatcher, an unlikely spokesperson for the environmental movement, may have put it best in an address to the Royal Society 30 years ago when she said and i quote the health of the economy and the health of our environment are totally dependent upon one another. The World Wildlife fund elaborated on this sentiment when it noted quote all Economic Activity depends on Services Provided by nature. Now in the book, floridas aquaphor is eviscerated in the name of progress and development. And yet later, the state will be heavily dependent on the availability of that water. You dont get much more shortsighted than that. And once i got started on the research i realized how significant the decade of the 20s was to American History as a whole. And i think it is no exaggeration to say, that it was the decade that defined contemporary america. Its popular culture, its norms, and its preoccupations. For example, this is the decade when we became primarily a middleclass society and a consumer driven society. Our lives configured around the automobile, and mass media for the first time. Initially it was radio, but television was sent to follow. Predominantly urban and suburban and our focus for the first time. But definitely and deeply divided between urban and rural. Now this is the decade when we also became sports obsessed. You saw the rise of the nfl for the first time as well as professional golf and tennis. And to a similar extent i would say we became obsessed for the first time, at least overtly with young new vial women appearing half clad in advertisements as never before. I tell the story in the book of karl fisher, the developer in miami beach using scantily clad young girls as cheesecake and the ads he ran on billboards in times square. To advertise miami beach. And also we became debt driven for the first time. This is the decade when home mortgages and installment credit took hold. That would have profound implications for what happened during the Great Depression. And interestingly we have never been able to shake that addiction to debt ever since. Most people who remain just as indebted coming out of the Great Depression as they were going in. That is if they hadnt been wiped out like my great grandfather. And finally, i would say this is the age where business comes to the four as the chief occupation and preoccupation of most americans. Next thing i discovered was that there were some wonderful characters to write about in particular the four Great Developers of the era. Who are remarkably compelling people. I mention karl fisher, at miami beach, you know about George Merrick, here in coral gables, Addison Meisner in palm beach and boca raton and dp davis who is in tampa and Saint Augustine now to give you a flavor or these men, just a quick description of just one. Which is karl fisher again this looks lik its from the book. Karl fisher was born into a middleclass family in greensboro indiana 1874. The oldest of three boys, he was born with the stigmatism so severe that he was barely able to read the blackboard at school. He dropped out at age 12. Despite impaired eyesight, he was an avid reader, a gifted athlete, and a gleeful showoff. The best ice skater in indianapolis, he could also walk on stilts that stood a full story hi, stand on his head, tight rope walk, and outrun most of his classmates running backwards. In fact one of his two wives would recall that he was nearly as nimble with his feet as with his hands. Squat and slope shouldered, fisher would grow into a dimpled great boozer, an avid poker player and an unrepented womanizer who peppered his talk with profanity. He chewed tobacco, sometimes smoking a cigar at the same time after biting off and swallowing the cigars tip. When he married his first wife, jane in 19 oh nine, she was 24 and he was 35. But she was smitten. He was all speed, i found him so dazzling i can hardly look at him. Now each of these developers would make a gigantic fortune in the 1920s, equivalent to 600 million to 1. 3 billion today. And then in thrall to their success, go on to lose every penny of it. So each of their stories is a real life morality tale about greed and hubris and power, much like the greek tragedies. Theres a fourth towering figure to emerge from this era and that was the environmentalists marjorie stone. Should go on to write the great book on the everglades knew probably have heard that was in 1947. When after years of devastation and drought, the everglades were on fire. And she serves in the book as a counterpoint to the developers and their shortsighted development activities. That ended of course in disaster and she is really the conscience of this book she outlives the developers happily by 50 or 60 years living to be 108 and winning a president ial honor. As i got deeper into the research of this book i began to suspect there was more to the story that met the eye that economists and historians had overlooked the real significance of the roles or the bus, because the bursting of the land boom was very likely the event that triggered the Great Depression. So real estate, not the stock market was the villain leading up to the 1930s. Now, ive but do not want to oversimplify it i try not to in the book, because im cognizant of how complex our economy is. And even was back then. And theres not likely one single cause of the Great Depression. But as i say in the book, and i think this is true, the collapse of the florida boom is what provided the dynamite and the detonator. That is even though there was a lag time of a couple of years between when Florida Real Estate collapsed and when the National Economy collapsed. The same was true in 2008 by the way. Real estate started to roll over, and late 2006, in florida and california stock market did not decline until mid 2008. Because it takes a while for real estate collapse to play out. So for me, that was the final piece of the literary puzzle. As far as i was concerned. I had what i needed to make an engaging book. An inherited lay interesting. Of time, a dramatic set of events, good characters, and a novel theme which i think a book like this should have, really an argument if you will. So that is the story behind the conception of the book. A story of how it came to be written and in the broadest terms i would say the book is the story of the watershed decade were we as a nation went from mom and pop ism to massmarketing, from fiscal responsibility to a reliance on consumer debt. And above all, from rural naivete and innocence to urban maturity and sophistication as a nation. Although we had to go through the Great Depression to get there. So let me finish by just giving you an overview of florida in 19206. And see if this doesnt echo with you as you look at the country today. Again, i am quoting from the book here. In many ways the florida of the 1920s was a precursor of america 100 years later. In florida then as in the United States at the moment, to affluent coast were separated by an impoverished and largely agricultural interior and equitable wealth distribution, racial intolerance, xena phobia and rising nationalism, the kkk being the most blatant manifestation back then. These were combined with a dangerous over reliance on economics. In a governance structure for bankers and Business People wielded a new ordinance influence on policy. So to complete the analogy, the Political Leadership of the day, displayed profound indifference to the fates of the environment and to societies less fortunate. Now i find these parallels uncanny and in the book i remind the reader that it did not end well back then and that today the risk of history repeating is real so yes, the 20s was a glamorous prosperous fun decade full of sports stars, celebrities, starlets, was also a reckless, disruptive, money obsessed scandal ridden and polarized decade two. In short, and an era remarkably similar to the one we are living through today. So i thank you for listening i hope you read and enjoy the book and i am happy to take any questions. [applause] i read something and so id like to ask you a question and you are the person to provide the answer. In the 1920s. [inaudible] Land Developers attached oranges to mangrove trees and marketed them as orange grove. Is that true . Or is that just a story . [laughter] guest as just a story i could not verify that. Anyone else . I am curious how do you think we should tell the story of George Merrick today . Guest them glad you asked that question. Ive looked comment here i said first i was very impressed to what he accomplished here in coral gables, you can see it. But i have to admit it came to something of a shock to me to it show he was not all he was reported to be. That i dont how many of you know this, but he while he might not of been a bona fide crook, when his business started to collapse in the 1920s he. [inaudible] repeatedly. What he did was he unloaded properties, off onto the city of clark gables, at exorbitant prices. At the same time they went up and debt to purchase those properties. Death it was the city defaulted on, that wasnt feared out to 1961. He got away with it, he got away with it because of in the statute of limitations. Thats when the real estate collapse, florida collapsed everywhere. There was such a backlog of lawsuits they did not get there. Ultimately by the fcc i think they shamed him a little bit. It was brushed under the covers. But that story seems to have been swept under the carpet of time i think you can understand why. People dont want their founder be a failed Real Estate Developer guilty of criminal acts, especially in this day and age. [laughter] but i think the truth came out in the end and they told in this book i think here in the clark gables might find interesting. Anyone else . Thats great, i will be here to sign copies and happy to chat or answer questions as i do so. Thank you again. [applause] my husband and i are old and we are staying at home, are we just postponing the inevitable and really the only thing that you can do is try as you suggested to keep ourselves positive and eat well and try to be ready for when it finally finds us. Are there any studies trying to come up with something to track of how far the diseases for other ways. Do we have to be worried about animals carrying the disease and have to worry all about this all over again . Put mosquitoes aside, coronavirus is not transmitted by mosquitoes, we can take a deep breath about that. Share your experiences dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and ask experts your questions. Join our live conversation, every morning on washington journal which starts at 7 00 a. M. Eastern and more live conversation weeknights at 8 00 p. M. Eastern for washington journal primetime. Weeknights this week, we are featuring book tv program showcasing what is available every weekend on cspan2. Tonight, historian Matthew Algeo in the winter of 1967 68 and how it feels his interest to run for president. Then cassie chambers looks back at her grandmother, aunt and mother who grew up in poverty in kentuckys appellation mountains region in their decision to remain or leave. After that, jd vance recalls
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