Maximum Vantage

A veteran journalist speaks truth to power on issues that matter to the nation

Florida Book Awards, Silver Medal for Florida Nonfiction

In this collection of columns spanning the years 2000–2019, veteran journalist Bill Maxwell tackles important issues faced by Florida and broader American society that remain as relevant as ever. Demonstrating the courage to take on controversy and the signature pithy style that have won him a nationwide readership, Maxwell offers his opinion on a wide variety of questions with a focus on race, agricultural labor, education, and the environment.

Maxwell writes from the vantage point of a Florida native who grew up as a migrant farmworker at the end of the Jim Crow era; a Black man who participated in the civil rights movement to help make the state more equitable; a college professor who lectured about the harms of racial discrimination; and an environmentalist who has lived in the Everglades as artist-in-residence. Grounding his social criticism in firsthand knowledge of the contradictions of life in the American South, Maxwell uses reason and research to highlight uncomfortable realities and injustices that persist in the twenty-first century.

Believing that informed citizens will make decisions that positively impact society, Maxwell prompts readers to examine their own perspectives, question their assumptions, and come to a deeper understanding of their state and nation.

Publication of this work made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.