{"title":"Craig Pittman","description":"Craig Pittman is an award-winning journalist who writes about environmental issues for Florida's largest newspaper, the Tampa Bay Times. He is the coauthor of Paving Paradise and author of Manatee Insanity.","products":[{"product_id":"the-scent-of-scandal-greed-betrayal-and-the-worlds-most-beautiful-orchid-paperback","title":"The Scent of Scandal: Greed, Betrayal, and the World's Most Beautiful Orchid - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e2012 Florida Book Awards, Silver Medal for Florida Non-Fiction \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"FANTASTIC. If I did not know most of the main players I would have thought the author had a vivid and twisted imagination.\"--Paul Martin Brown, author of \u003ci\u003eWild Orchids of Florida\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A fascinating true story of obsession, greed, and lust for the unobtainable. Reminds me a great deal of \u003ci\u003eThe Maltese Falcon\u003c\/i\u003e. This rare flower is definitely the stuff that dreams are made of.\"--Ace Atkins, author of \u003ci\u003eDevil's Garden\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eInfamous\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Pittman has captured the extreme competition, unique characters, and general insanity that often typify the orchid world. \u003ci\u003eThe Scent of Scandal \u003c\/i\u003eexemplifies how passion and profit can overrule common sense and the law.\"--Scott Steward, former associate editor, \u003ci\u003eNorth American Native Orchid Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter its Peruvian discovery in 2002, \u003ci\u003ePhragmipedium kovachii\u003c\/i\u003e became the rarest and most sought-after orchid in the world. Prices soared to $10,000 on the black market. Then one showed up at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, where every year more than 100,000 people visit. They come for the lush landscape on Sarasota Bay and for Selby's vast orchid collection, one of the most magnificent in the world. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe collision between Selby's scientists and the smugglers of \u003ci\u003ePhrag. Kovachii\u003c\/i\u003e, a rare ladyslipper orchid hailed as the most significant and beautiful new species discovered in a century, led to search warrants, a grand jury investigation, and criminal charges. It made headlines around the country, cost the gardens hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations, and led to tremendous internal turmoil. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eInvestigative journalist Craig Pittman unravels this tangled web to shine a spotlight on flaws in the international treaties governing trade in endangered wildlife--which may protect individual plants and animals in shipping but do little to halt the destruction of whole colonies in the wild. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Scent of Scandal\u003c\/i\u003e unspools like a riveting mystery novel, stranger than anything in Susan Orlean's \u003ci\u003eThe Orchid Thief\u003c\/i\u003e or the film \u003ci\u003eAdaptation\u003c\/i\u003e. Pittman shows how some people can become so obsessed--with beauty, with profit, with fame--that they will ignore everything, even the law.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51366220693727,"sku":"9780813060569","price":22.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/b2to68aGQO9780813060569.webp?v=1789088066"},{"product_id":"cat-tale-the-wild-weird-battle-to-save-the-florida-panther-paperback","title":"Cat Tale: The Wild, Weird Battle to Save the Florida Panther - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA \u003cem\u003eGarden \u0026amp; Gun\u003c\/em\u003e Best Book of 2020 \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Witty and passionate.\" --Lauren Groff \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Craig Pittman has a remarkable talent for telling stories set in the Sunshine State that never fail to fascinate and entertain.\"--Gilbert King \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"The definitive book on one of America's least understood apex predators. The story of how Florida's panthers were saved from extinction is one that both deserves and needs to be told.\" --Dane Huckelbridge \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe captivating tale of the Florida panther, its survival and rescue from extinction\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWith novelistic detail and an eye for the absurd, Craig Pittman recounts the extraordinary story of the people who brought the panther back from the brink of extinction, the ones who nearly pushed the species over the edge, and the cats that were caught in the middle. This being Florida, there's more than a little weirdness, too. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAn engrossing narrative of wry humor, sharp writing and exhaustive reportage, \u003cem\u003eCat Tale \u003c\/em\u003eshows what it takes to bring one species back and what unexpected costs such a decision brings.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51367974830303,"sku":"9781335482211","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/gXV0XuZd_P9781335482211.webp?v=1789116998"},{"product_id":"welcome-to-florida-true-tales-from-americas-most-interesting-state-paperback","title":"Welcome to Florida: True Tales from America's Most Interesting State - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA much-loved Florida writer chronicles the quirky, touching, and thought-provoking stories of the Sunshine State today \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eWelcome to Florida\u003c\/i\u003e, award-winning investigative journalist and New York Times bestselling author Craig Pittman introduces readers to the people, creatures, places, and issues that make up the Florida of today. Through lively stories told with cutting insight and always with a joke at the ready, Pittman captures the heart of what he calls \"The Most Interesting State.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom threats to Florida's environment to a hippo that became an official state citizen, these tales range from the moving to the bizarre. Pittman follows the escapades of crime writers, hungry predators, politicians, and developers across the state. At the core of this collection is a deep sense of admiration for the resilience of those who live here. Again and again, this book showcases the power of \"ordinary Floridians fighting to save some part of the state that they hold dear.\" Often, that means folks rallying to protect the state's unique natural landscape; sometimes it means former CIA agents incorporating their own island community.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWelcome to Florida is both a love letter to and hilarious deep dive into the nation's fastest-growing state. Imbued with Pittman's characteristic humor and undeniable fondness for both the weird and wonderful parts of his home, this book shows why, despite some of its reputations, Florida continues to prove irresistible.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51368433025247,"sku":"9780813080949","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/6JE24KocnR9780813080949.webp?v=1789128411"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/craig-pittman.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}