Jonathan Dickinson won the President’s Silver Medal for the best history book of 2024 at the Florida Authors and Publishers Association’s awards banquet. The event capped FAPA’s annual convention at the Orlando Hilton in August.

FAPA at one time confined its awards contests to books about Florida. But as its prestige grew, so did requests to include a broader range of books. This year FAPA received over 400 entries, including many from leading national publishers.

The Dickinson book was cited for adding new dimensions to a story about a shipwreck in 1696 and the survivors’ perilous journey up Florida’s east coast. For example, author James D. Snyder supplied new insights about Dickinson’s upbringing in Port Royal, Jamaica as part of a devout Quaker family living in what he calls “the same pirate’s den that spawned the likes of Henry Morgan.”

Similarly, the author took a second look at Dickinson’s description of the Indians at Jupiter Inlet as “savages” and “cannibals” who were isolated from contact with colonists from Europe. Instead, we learn that the Jupiter Indians had served as divers and salvagers of sunken English and Spanish ships for decades.

For these and other insights on why the Spanish failed in Florida and why its first Native Americans disappeared as well, check the buy now button in the Books section.

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          Jim Snyder and Julie Alexander, Publisher and

          CEO Florida Classics Library Publishing