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Cracker: The Cracker Culture in Florida History. Second Edition. By Dana Ste.Claire. (Gainesville: Distributed by the University Press of Florida for the Museum of Arts and Sciences, Daytona Beach, Florida, c. 1998. Pp. 255. Paper, $19.95, ISBN 0-933053-13-4.)
Throughout the Deep South, cracker is often a fighting word that connotes a social standing below redneck and conveys images of bigotry and clannishness. These connotations are prevalent in Florida, but many denizens of the Sunshine State have recently placed a positive spin on the label, reclaiming the epithet as a badge of honor. Dana Ste.Clair is one of them. His sympathetic presentation of the history and culture of Florida crackers provides a fine resource for understanding how the cracker image is rooted...