"A lucid account of the human and economic factors that drove a notorious land rush.”
—Kirkus Review
"Knowlton delivers a vibrant, eminently readable cautionary tale about business and cultural history."
—Booklist
"Knowlton successfully captures the vibrancy and mixed legacy of Florida’s boom years and makes a convincing...case for the state as an economic bellwether."
—Publishers Weekly
“Painstakingly researched, artfully organized, and beautifully written, this multifaceted work of narrative history traces the subterranean ties between economic hubris and environmental dysfunction by telling the stories of the people who shaped the Florida that we know today.” — Charles Donelan, Santa Barbara Independent
“Knowlton delivers a captivating story, bubbling with colorful anecdotes and surprising research. As the triumphs and follies unfold, the narrative takes on a Canterbury Tales quality, drawing us into the turbulent lives of the real estate kings, crime bosses, cynical hucksters, and romantic visionaries who laid the foundation of modern Florida….[Knowlton] does vividly remind us that the metabolism of regional real-estate markets can affect the health of the overall economy. That timely lesson, one we forget at our peril, has rarely been taught with such panache.” – Diana B. Henriques, AIR MAIL
“Knowlton, a former London bureau chief for Fortune magazine who grew up spending spring breaks at his grandmother’s home outside Vero Beach, has produced a lively and entertaining chronicle of the visionaries, rascals and hucksters who transformed Florida.” – Manuel Roig-Franzia, Washington Post
“Beginning in the Victorian era and moving quickly to the Jazz Age, Knowlton tells the tale as though it’s a novel by dramatically bringing the players together in a backdrop that’s so vivid you may be tempted to check your whereabouts.” – Terri Schlichenmeyer, The Bookworm Sez
“Knowlton…brings expertise, deep research and a brisk style to the book. It’s a dauntingly complex slice of history, but he examines it with clarity and insight, not to mention lots of juicy dish about the personal lives of some of the high rollers.” – Colette Bancroft, Tampa Bay Times
“In his new book, Christopher Knowlton explains how Florida went from proverbial swamp land to a decadent playground for millionaires, socialites, gangsters and bootleggers.” – Adriana Delgado, Palm Beach Post
“Knowlton, author of one of 2017’s best history books, Cattle Kingdom: The Hidden History of the Cowboy West, juxtaposes economic and cultural history in as engaging a fashion as anyone writing today….Knowlton’s eye and ear for compelling characters and his masterful narrative gifts make Bubble in the Sun the new gold standard on the old bait-and-swiitch.” — Clayton Trutor, History.net
“Bubble in the Sun fascinates the reader with multiple biographies of movers, shakers and prominent voices in the Florida land boom. From Flagler to Marjory Stoneman Douglas, each persona proves immensely interesting. The author takes the reader for a trip back to a time where rich was admirable, ignorance was bliss and intolerance entirely too predominant….Grade A History!” – Philip Zozzaro, Manhattan Book Review
“It is difficult to go wrong when writing of questionable behavior and wretched excess in Florida, a fact that is borne out yet again in Christopher Knowlton’s colorful Bubble in the Sun, a wide-ranging treatment of the ill-fated South Florida land boom of the 1920s.” – Les Standiford, The Wall Street Journal.
EDITORS’ CHOICE/STAFF PICKS FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW:
BUBBLE IN THE SUN: The Florida Boom of the 1920s and How It Brought on the Great Depression, by Christopher Knowlton. (Simon & Schuster, $30.) The story of the 1920s real estate bubble in Florida has been told before, but Knowlton brings to it a vivid, spirited style and a colorful cast of characters who made quick fortunes and lost them just as quickly.
Book Review: 'Bubble in the Sun: The Florida Boom of the 1920s and How It Brought on the Great Depression' by Christopher Knowlton
“In Christopher Knowlton’s excellent Bubble in the Sun, the young billionaires of the era flocked to the state, making it a high end, luxury destination for them and their kind. The book examines the excesses they went to, and how they built new fortunes selling their dreams (and their partying) to the rest of the country….
“There are three things that make Bubble in the Sun outstanding, besides the characters, who wrote themselves for Knowlton. He is careful to put things in perspective, because we take so much for granted. He explains the rolling daisy-chain effects of the depression so readers can see how it deepened and took Florida down. He explains the monetary policy of the era, banking policy as it was then, and always tells readers what a dollar amount would mean in today’s money. All this keeps the book from being just a flat history that today’s readers could not relate to. This adds tremendous value.
“Knowlton also seems to have tapped everyone in the world for their takes on the players and the era. He assembled everyone’s contributions into an easy-reading, engaging and often exciting tale that is seamless where it could easily have been disjointed. A tremendous amount of work went into Bubble in the Sun, and it wears well….”
—David Wineberg, San Francisco Review of Books
“Bubble in the Sun is more than a fascinating history of the development of the Sunshine State. It illuminates distinctly American architectural and cultural traditions of the early 20th Century, introduces us to little-known but compelling characters of the Roaring Twenties, and offers an original theory of the elusive causes of the Great Depression.” – Jonathan Alter, author of The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope
“Bubble in the Sun is a deeply engrossing book that takes you on a roller coaster ride through the greatest real estate boom and bust in American history. What a cast of characters!” – Barbara Corcoran
“Christopher Knowlton’s highly readable story of boom and bust reminds us how much has changed since the great Florida land rush of the 1920s—and how much hasn’t. Unchanged is the fallibility of mortal men in the presence of large sums of money, either real or imagined. Different is the quality of the larger-than-life characters—the temporarily rich visionary Carl Fisher, to name one—who live and breathe in Knowlton’s pages. – James Grant, Grant’s Interest Rate Observer.
“I grew up learning (as most everyone did) that the stock market crash of 1929 set off the Great Depression. I was way off the full story. Christopher Knowlton reveals what really happened, while offering a wonderful depiction of Florida’s 'gold rush'—and how the country literally became the poorer for it.” – David Lawrence Jr., retired publisher of the Miami Herald and chair of The Children's Movement of Florida
“Bubble in the Sun adroitly spotlights the environmental damage and injustice done to the Everglades during the 1920s. It also details the glitterati, hucksters, and fraudsters of the Roaring Twenties and how they led us down the path to the Great Depression, a story eerily similar to the wantonness that gave rise to the financial collapse of 2008. Will we ever learn?” – James Davenport, Water Justice