Plot Summary:
A photo essay of early Tampa, divided into the following parts:
(1) Beginning of Cigar City to the Turn of the Century
(2) Tampa at the Beginning of the 20th Century
(3) The Roaring 20s, Great Depression and Economic Recovery
(4) World War II and the Baby Boom
Photographs are from the Burgert Brothers collection. Each chapter has a brief, one-page introduction to local history and events during the time period covered, while each photo's caption contains more detailed information about the people and places captured on camera.About the Author:
Ralph Brower lives in the Tampa Bay area. The Nashville-based Turner Publishing specializes in local history, photo collections and Southern literature. Their "Historical Photos of" series profiles over twenty cities, including Austin, Chicago, Jacksonville, New York and San Francisco.What I Liked:
The photographs, of course. All walks of life in Tampa's history were represented, from the high society Gasparilla parties to bank employees to female WWII welders factory workers to young schoolchildren. There were photos of local businesses, streets, advertising, waterways, parades, construction, parties, Ybor cigar factories, vehicles and people, people, people. Some photographs were staged "smile for the camera!" pictures, a few were aerial shots, and some were random, un-staged, spur of the moment shots.What I Disliked:
The captions weren't as carefully written and edited as they should have been. There were numerous typographical and grammatical errors as well as an uneven flow to the captions (some were choppy and lacking in detail), which I found disappointing in a book of this quality.Bottom Line: If you overlook the uneven and error-ridden captions and concentrate instead on the beautiful photographs that provide a sneak peek into Tampa's history, Historic Photos of Tampa is a great coffee-table book.
Rating: B+
"FANGRRL" is ©2008 by Lisa Ciurro. All graphics, except where otherwise noted, are creations of Nolan B. Canova. All contents of Nolan's Pop Culture Review are ©2008 by Nolan B. Canova.
