Twelve on the River St. Johns

Charles Bennett offered a number of sketches on some of the leading figures in Jacksonville's history in this short, breezy book. Bennett was a leading authority on La Caroline, the French colony that was destroyed in 1565, and his chapters on French and Timucuan leaders of that era are some of the best of the book. Some of the other chapters seem less satisfying, especially his look at a Spanish friar. Remember that this book was published in 1989 and while this was towards the end of Bennett's long political career, he still was a politician. His chapter on his family relations Jesse duPont and Ed Ball is diplomatic and offers little in the way of personal revelations. Still, Bennett helps shed light on a number of important figures in the shaping of Florida's First Coast. If you are looking for an indepth biographical study of any of the twelve Floridians portrayed here, look elsewhere. But for anyone wanting to know more about Jacksonville's past, this book offers a quick and pleasant trip down the rivers of history.