An illustrated book on Key West's famous Conch houses. History, architectural traditions, floor plans and exploded views, construction methods, hard to find items, gingerbread patterns, tropical flora included.

Describes building styles found in Key West, the southernmost of the Florida keys, and identifies the Spanish, Victorian, and Caribbean influences on the local homes.

Much more than the typical vacation destination, Key West combines a free-spirited ambiance with magnificent coral reefs, a unique historic legacy with an enduring artistic sensibility. For centuries, explorers and adventurers, immigrants and entrepreneurs, artists and wanderers have come to the island oasis, and today Key West, a city like no other, is home to them all. Through hurricanes, fires, labor strikes, and the tourism boom, the community of Key West has sustained a unique way of life and attracted a wide variety of people to its shores, including such famous figures as writers Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, President Harry Truman, and musician Jimmy Buffett. Whether strolling through the downtown historic district, searching eclectic shops for one-of-a-kind treasures, enjoying a piece of key lime pie, or participating in the look-alike contest during Hemingway Days, Key West offers endless opportunities for pleasure. The landmarks, the people, and the continuing story of Key West are the entertaining subject of this new photographic tribute.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • This is the ultimate Jimmy Buffett philosophy on life and how to live it, “like sitting with Buffett at a beachside bar, listening to him spin tales” (Time). “Buffett took his family on a three-week trek around the Caribbean. . . . His colorful travelogue is interspersed with memoirs of his youth and music career—both of which revolve around his continuing search for the perfect fishing spot.”—USA Today For Parrotheads, armchair adventurers, and anyone who appreciates a good yarn and a hearty laugh, here is the ultimate backstage pass. You’ll read the kind of stories Jimmy usually reserves for his closest friends and you'll see a wonderful, wacky life through the eyes of the man who's lived it. Jimmy takes us from the legendary pirate coves of the Florida Keys to the ruins of ancient Cartegena. Along the way, we hear a tale or two of how he got his start in New Orleans, how he discovered his passion for flying planes, and how he almost died in a watery crash in Nantucket harbor. We follow Jimmy to jungle outposts in Costa Rica and on a meandering trip down the Amazon, through hair-raising negotiations with gun-toting customs officials and a three-year-old aspiring co-pilot. And he is the inimitable Jimmy Buffett through it all.

Only a family emergency could drag Abby Vernayhome to Key West for Christmas. And there's certainlynothing holly berry and mistletoe about this visit.She's got to bail out her eccentric father, and thatmeans taking on the local law. None other than policecaptain Reese Burkett, Abby's high-school crush—andthe man she's been avoiding for thirteen years.She doesn't know about Reese, but she's neverforgotten the night of her graduation, a night thatleft Abby with bittersweet memories and a secret thatchanged her life. Yet even Abby can't deny thatReese's behavior has been very good and he doesn'tdeserve a lump of coal this year. In fact, he has aright to finally know the truth. Besides, seeing himagain makes her want to let go of the past and moveon to a future…together. Except he'll probably neverforgive her.… Merry Christmas? Bah, humbug.

Many children of military families, like Dandelions, are scattered far and wide and learn to survive where the winds of fate carry them. The Authors, both “Dandelions”, have penned a whimsical collection of unique coming-of-age stories set in the late 1950’s and 60’s in Key West, the island paradise where they landed and thrived. Soak up some tropical magic through the adventures and misadventures of these two “Navy Brats”. This light-hearted book is spiced up by the flavor of a few Conch Recipes and a dash of Island Music.

Key West is a tropical island at the end of the Florida Keys. Quiet, quaint and completely bizarre. The authors of True Secrets of Key West Revealed! went to great lengths to research the hidden truths about this island paradise. In a lively question and answer format you will learn what restaurant has a graveyard in it, what has protected Key West from hurricanes since 1918 and about the crazy count who lived and slept with his dead "wife's" body...for seven years! Indexed for easy reference. You won't find a funnier or more accurate place for information about the odder side of Key West.

Insiders' Guide to Florida Keys & Key West is a beautiful full-color guide and the essential source for in-depth travel information for visitors and locals to this ever-growing city. Written by a local (and true insider), Insiders' Guide to Florida Keys & Key West offers a personal and practical perspective of this location that makes it a must-have guide for travelers as well as residents looking to rediscover their hometown.

At the age of five, Tony Huarte receives a prophesy from an erotic gypsy woman a birthmark, he is told, reveals that he has a special gift of quickness. Pilar, the sensuous, spell-casting fortune-teller, is also a world-class flamingo dancer. She takes Tony under her wing and introduces him to 40s jazz music, inspiring his lifetime love of jazz. As early as ten, Tonys elite quickness and determination, spurred on by Pilar and his uncle Pablo, enable him to have early triumphs in the youth boxing tournaments. Set against the 50s - 80s jazz scene, The Quick and The Rest is a 120,000 word fiction novel. It is the chronicle of a young boy of simple emigrant parents who discovers that he is gifted with elite reactions and hand-eye coordination. His profession as a boxer and the aftermath take him and his boyhood football companion Charlie on a wild odyssey through the brutal championship fights, the bright lights of the jazz world, the dangerous contacts with criminals, the adventure of an epic sail, and the encounters with many stunning, but problematic, women. Tonys penchant and magnet for violence outside the ring leave him with a smashed right hand, several dead men and his challenge for the top of the professional boxing world severely, as well as his physical and mental well-being, jeopardized. These violent engagements are, for the most part, the result of his obsession with highly desirable women and the fast living that accompany them.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY • “Summer Sisters is a book to return to again and again.”—Colleen Hoover “As warm as a summer breeze blowing through your hair, as nostalgic as James Taylor singing ‘How Sweet It Is.’ You remember. So does Judy Blume. How sweet it was.”—Chicago Tribune In the summer of 1977, Victoria Leonard’s world changes forever when Caitlin Somers chooses her as a friend. Dazzling, reckless Caitlin welcomes Vix into the heart of her sprawling, eccentric family, opening doors to a world of unimaginable privilege, sweeping her away to vacations on Martha’s Vineyard, an enchanting place where the two friends become “summer sisters.” Now, years later, Vix is working in New York City. Caitlin is getting married on the Vineyard. And the early magic of their long, complicated friendship has faded. But Caitlin begs Vix to come to her wedding, to be her maid of honor. And Vix knows that she will go—because she wants to understand what happened during that last shattering summer. And, after all these years, she needs to know why her best friend—her summer sister—still has the power to break her heart.