Reviews & Awards
“Albion, former curator of the Edison and Ford Winter Estates, writes with an eye for extraordinary as well as ordinary details, from the difficult task of lighting Fort Myers in the late 1880s to family expeditions up the Caloosahatchee River and into the Everglades.”—Publishers Weekly, 08/18/08
“Far from being mere tourists, the Edisons were longtime and active members of the Fort Myers community. Albion richly details his life in Florida, enriching our understanding of his relationship with people outside of his labs. Always sensitive to Edison as a human being, she reveals how his time in Fort Myers was increasingly central to Edison’s life.” —Howard Segal, author of Recasting the Machine Age: Henry Ford’s Village Industries
“Finally, a smart but highly readable account of one of Florida’s most famous snowbird couples! Mina and Thomas Edison were rock stars in sleepy Fort Myers, and Albion does a great job re-creating their lives as lived under the banyan trees.” —Ad Hudler, author of All This Belongs to Me and Southern Living
“Fills a significant gap in the inventor’s career by using local sources as well as the extensive collection of the Edison Papers to tell the story of his work, recreation, and influence in the city where he built his winter home.”—Paul Israel, author of Edison: A Life of Invention
“Both an accomplished speaker and historian, Ms. Albion has produced a well-researched and in-depth study of Thomas Edison’s life in Florida. Far from being a stuffy academic tome it is written in an entertaining and informative style for the general reader and scholar alike. I have seen other books on this subject and it is far and away the best study of Edison’s life in Florida to date.” –Duane Shaffer, author of Men of Granite
“Albion paints a highly personal portrait of daily activities in the Edison home, including tarpon fishing, Model T expeditions into the Everglades, research with tropical plants, and a visit by the President of the United States.”—Thomas Graham, author of Flagler’s St. Augustine Hotels
Featured among the “New Scholarly Books” in The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 12, 2008.
“For anyone with a penchant for Florida…The Florida Life of Thomas Edison is an absolute must. Rather than a dry, lofty tome, this book is a charming and factual tale of an incredibly gifted and unique individual. While it reads much like fiction, it is a truly biographical account of Edison’s many years in Southwest Florida.” –Linda Fasulo, WGCU, Public Radio, October 7, 2008
http://wgcu.org/audioplayer/5030.aspx — Linda Fasulo book review
Pronunciation note:
Milan, Ohio is pronounced “My-lan and “Gilliland” is pronounced “Gill-ill-land.
“Albion’s work is a humanizing story about a man often viewed as being flawless. He was a good man with a powerful mission and an ultimate destiny. Often times driven by what seems like superhuman desire to fulfill the promise of research and invent incredible things to make life easier, the author manages to give him a simpler persona.” –Yohana de la Torre, Chief Editor, Gulf Coast Times, Fort Myers, Florida.
Winner of the 2009 Patrick Rembert Award for a scholarly book on a Florida History topic.