Virtually every month for fourteen years, Gene Burnett wrote a history piece under the title ``Florida's Past`` for Florida Trend, Florida's respected magazine of business and finance. This first volume of collected essays from that series proved so popular among book readers that two more volumes have been published. Pineapple Press is now proud to make them available in paperback. Burnett's easygoing style and his sometimes surprising choice of topics make history good reading. Read a chapter and you'll find you've gone on to read more. Read this volume and you'll find yourself looking for the next two.