Kyle Harrison
to-read
Bubble in the Sun
Bubble in the Sun: The Florida Boom of the 1920s and How It Brought on the Great Depression
- Author
- Christopher Knowlton
- Published
- 2020
- Pages
- 411
- Recommended
- 2 times
The 1920s Florida land boom — Carl Fisher at Miami Beach, George Merrick at Coral Gables, Addison Mizner at Boca Raton — and the 1926 hurricane and collapse that followed.
Why it’s on the list: Named in the “explains an entire industry” thread. A speculative real-estate mania documented developer by developer, which is rarer than the macro retellings.
Where I saw it: In Kyle’s “Books To Read” Apple Note, recovered from the reply thread to @WillManidis asking “what is the single best book you can read that will explain an entire industry?” (June 2, 2025). The full recovered list lives on what is the single best book… (tweet).
Connections
- what is the single best book… (tweet) — the thread this came out of; the full recovered list lives there.
- Real Estate — the industry.
- City Building — Miami Beach and Coral Gables were built from nothing in this decade.