Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that...

Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean | Les Standiford | A Key to Key West

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Last Train to Para...

	Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean Les Standiford Three Rivers Press, 2003 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 25 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Last Train to Paradise is acclaimed novelist Les Standiford?s fast-paced and gripping true account of the extraordinary construction and spectacular demise of the Key West Railroad?one of the greatest engineering feats ever undertaken, destroyed in one fell swoop by the Labor Day hurricane of 1935. Brilliant and driven entrepreneur Henry Flagler?s dream fulfilled, the Key West Railroad stood as a magnificent achievement for more than twenty-two years, heralded as ?the Eighth Wonder of the World.? Standiford brings the full force and fury of 1935?s deadly ?Storm of the Century? and its sweeping destruction of ?the railroad that crossed an ocean? to terrifying life. Last Train to Paradise celebrates a crowning achievement of Gilded Age ambition in a sweeping tale of the powerful forces of human ingenuity colliding with the even greater forces of nature?s wrath.

?A dramatic story . . . and Les Standiford has a good deal of fun with it all.? ?Washington Post Book World
?A rousing?a deeply sobering?story.? ?Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed
?A fascinating and incredibly compelling account . . . I could not put it down.? ?Donald Trump
?A definitive account of the engineering feat that became known as ?Flagler?s Folly?. . . A rousing adventure."?Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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A must-read for anyone traveling to Key West!

If you do one thing before visiting the Florida Keys and Key West, PLEASE make time to read this book! We flew to Miami recently and drove this amazing route all the way to Key West. I finished the book right before our return trip, so I couldn't stop talking about the feats of engineering and perilous conditions during the entire car ride! (I think the fam got a little bored with me...should've made them all read it, too!)

The only thing about reading this book while on vacation is that I frequently had to go back and re-read some paragraphs. It's very factual and requires a fair amount of concentration. Kind of hard to do with an umbrella drink in your hand, palm trees swaying overhead and the gorgeous ocean about 15 steps away. Sigh...

Henry Flagler's story is so amazing, I would like to visit all of the hotels he was responsible for constructing all down the Atlantic Coast. We live in such a fast-paced and technologically advanced age that it's hard to fathom the trials and tribulations these men had to endure while constructing the railroad to Key West. It's amazing they ever finished it. Bless the souls who lost their lives in this astounding endeavor.

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A Key to Key West

Time and tides wait for no man, nor are they particularly cooperative. Les Standiford's excellent "Last Train to Paradise" illustrates this on scales large and small in this vivid and informative telling of Henry Flagler's building of the railroad from mainland Florida to Key West. Although the project has earned only a footnote in American history, this grand and sad achievement illuminates a great deal of what the "Gilded Age," the years between the end of the Civil War and the Depression, were about.

The lure and mystery of Key West, Manifest Destiny, pride, John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil, mosquitoes, hurricanes, oppressive heat, a 150-mile stretch of mostly open water, Ernest Hemingway, and a bit of oceanography and engineering are just some of the fascinating ingredients in this wonderful book. It should be required reading for anyone who contemplates driving US Highway One off the mainland south of Miami to the end of the road, where remnants of this tragic tale still remain.

Marsh Muirhead, author of "Key West Explained - a guide for the traveler."

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If You Love All Things Florida...

Florida has a long and fascinating history, often overlooked by new arrivals to our fair state, whose attentions seem to focus more on theme parks and the lack of frosty weather than what happened here yesterday or the day before. Les Standiford, whose books are always well written and enjoyable, has provided us with a glimpse of old Florida that is well worth the reader's time and attention, in "Last Train to Paradise".

The book is an account of Henry Flagler's love for and work in developing Florida, with a special eye toward the building of the Key West Railroad. Flagler, you will recall, was partner with the crusty "spare-a-dime" plutocrat John D. Rockefeller in Standard Oil. Upon his semi-retirement, Flagler took up as his hobby railroading; not model railroading, but full-size, fill-the-miles railroading.

Many cities along the Atlantic Coast of Florida were founded or revitalized by Flagler's enterprises; for, wherever his railroads went, exotic grand hotels sprang up to which the well-heeled and the curious swiftly flocked. (The First Lady, Mrs. Benjamin Harrison, traveled to St Augustine for the grand opening of the Ponce de Leon Hotel). Indeed, the St. Augustine of today owes more to Henry Flagler for its exotic ambiance as it does to the earliest Spanish settlers. So too, down the coast--from Ormond Beach to Palm Beach--his Florida East Coast Railway and glamorous hotel enterprise sprang, with such speed, vitality and élan that Flagler has been called "the man who built Florida."

Standiford gives a great overview of Flagler and his love for the Sunshine State, and then goes on to tell the compelling story of the building of the Key West Railroad, the only railroad in the world to travel most of its length over open water, instead of land. Originally conceived in a bout of competitive bravura with the Gulf Coast's Henry Plant--at the grand opening of Plant's Tampa Bay Hotel--the Key West Railroad was designed to take travelers in cosseted comfort all the way to the southernmost tip of the United States. Standiford tells the tale of the grueling work that created this modern marvel and of its tragic demise during the horrific hurricane of 1935.

All who have traveled to Key West by automobile have benefited from Flagler's vision, since much of the highway was constructed directly upon what remained of the Key West Railroad's foundations. If you love all things Florida, you will not want to miss reading this book.

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Last Train to Paradise

Outstanding book--extremely well-written and very interesting. It's an enjoyable book even for readers not living in Florida or not familiar with Henry Flagler.

A Wonderful Tribute to the Man and His Legacy

I read this book after touring Flagler College in St. Augustine, FL. You cannot go anywhere in St. Augustine without hearing and seeing Henry Flagler's legacy. I really enjoyed the book - I could barely put it down. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in railroad history, and feel it is a "must read" for anyone who's been to the beautiful city of St. Augustine and gotten a taste of Henry Flagler's visionary spirit.

If you read the book without having visited the Florida Keys or St. Augustine, I strongly recommend that you do so soon!

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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