Alligator Tales / Edition 1

by Kevin M McCarthy, John Moran

Overview

The alligator—Florida's most feared, maligned animal. From the time European settlers first stepped onto Florida soil, the alligator has been a target of dread and revulsion—and the hunter's gun.

Collected here are true (and tongue-in-cheek) accounts of alligators and the people who have hunted them, been attacked by them, and tried to save them from extinction. Journey through the Everglades with 1800s Seminoles, experts at stalking and killing gators. Go along with a "Northern girl" as she shoots "my first alligator in my glove and veil." And learn how modern alligator hunters go about their business, which hasn't changed much in the last hundred years or so.

If you like tall tales, you'll love Henry, the alligator-turned-head-waiter who becomes despondent when a pretty New York girl spurns his lovesick advances. Or Algy, the gator who survives a broiling in a furnace by his owners, who happen to think he's already dead and won't mind the heat. Or Two-Toed Tom, who may or may not have even existed, but who was blamed for everything from eating mules to terrorizing women and children.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781561641581
Publisher:	Pineapple Press, Inc.
Publication date:	09/01/1998
Edition description:	1 ED
Pages:	1
Product dimensions:	6.06(w) x 9.04(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Kevin McCarthy is professor emeritus and a distinguished alumni professor of Florida studies and English at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he taught for 33 years. He has written many books for Pineapple Press.

Table of Contents

Introduction, I. Description of Alligators, II. Other Animals versus Gators, III. Humans versus Gators, IV. Native American Folktales about the Alligator, V. Alligator Miscellany

Editorial Reviews

McCarthy has compiled a humorous, fascinating and varied book that is a thoroughly enjoyable read for Floridians who see alligators in their yards and nearby ponds almost daily, as well as the tourist fascinated by these misunderstood—an often maligned—creatures.

Florida Living Magazine

Kevin McCarthy offers readers much more alligator information, some of it gleaned from historic writings. Most of the stories are true, but some are merely tall tales from the archives of alligator history.

Naples Daily News