Noll (history, U. of Florida) and Tegeder (history, Santa Fe College) recount the story of the Cross-Florida Barge Canal and how the project aimed to cut a canal across the Florida peninsula to reduce shipping times and bring commerce to Florida. They describe how construction began in the 1930s with Roosevelt's New Deal, how it was soon halted by politicians and conservationists, how it began again in the 1960s, and how it was never completed. Emphasizing what the controversy reveals about competing visions of progress and preservation in the state, they detail nineteenth century ideas about a canal, the efforts of conservationists like Marjorie Harris Carr and the citizen activists she led, the planning and development by the Army Corps of Engineers, and how the site later became a park. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)