Author Jason Vuic "A Town Without Pity"

Join us on Thursday, November 13 at 6 pm to hear author Jason Vuic talk about his new book, A Town Without Pity: Aids, Race, and Resistance in Florida's Deep South. After his talk, Jason will be happy to sign copies of his book.

This book is an examination of the history and culture of Arcadia, Florida, in the 1980s. It recounts two stories of small-town injustice that rose to national prominence at the end of the Reagan era and forced a reckoning with the staying power of social division and prejudice.

"A Florida backwater--twice thrust onto the national stage over controversies decades apart--is again centered in this fishbowl of a book, a page-turning examination of the machinations of a municipal mob under the nation's microscope. The haunting questions that gurgle throughout: Can a place be bad, and what makes it so?"--Ben Montgomery, author of Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail

About the Author

Originally from Punta Gorda, FL, Jason Vuic is an award-winning author and historian based in Fort Worth, Texas, who specializes in creative nonfiction.

His books include The Yugo: the Rise and Fall of the Worst Car in History and The Yucks! Two Years in Tampa with the Losingest Team in NFL History. His 2021 book The Swamp Peddlers: How Lot Sellers, Land Scammers, and Retirees Built Modern Florida and Transformed the American Dream won the Phillip and Dana Zimmerman Gold Medal Prize for Florida Nonfiction at the 2021 Florida Book Awards, as well as the 2021 Charlton Tebeau Award for outstanding general interest book from the Florida Historical Society. And, in 2025,

A skilled lecturer and speaker, Jason has appeared on NPR’s "Weekend Edition," APM’s "Marketplace," "Fox and Friends," CBC’s "The Current," and C-SPAN’S "Book TV."

Jason is a graduate of Wake Forest University, and holds an M.A. in history from the University of Richmond and a Ph.D. in history from Indiana University Bloomington. He was named both a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar and a Fulbright Scholar, and has given invited talks at such prestigious institutions as Harvard University, the Ohio State University, and the University of Florida.

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