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Content snapshot
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Violence
A lot
Graphic frontier violence including murder, massacre, and racial violence; Watson is suspected of killing dozens
Language
Some
Period-appropriate profanity and rough frontier language
Sexual Content
Barely any
Brief references to sexuality; not explicit
Substance Use
Some
Alcohol and opium use in frontier settings
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The psychology of a man who may be a serial killer, seen through conflicting accounts; racial violence and the destruction of Native peoples and the Everglades
What this book is about
E.J. Watson, a cane grower in the Ten Thousand Islands of southern Florida, is shot by his neighbors in 1910. Matthiessen's National Book Award-winning reworking of his Watson Trilogy reconstructs Watson's life through the voices of those who knew him: pioneers, Native people, escaped convicts, and the Watson family. A vast portrait of Florida frontier violence, ecological destruction, and the myth of the self-made man.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Graphic violence and murder
Racial violence against Black workers and Native peoples
Extreme length and density
Reader Verification
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