Book Talk with Betty Anholt & Charles LeBuff "Once Upon the Island Known as Sanibel"

"Once Upon the Island Known as Sanibel" by Betty Anholt & Charles LeBuff

book description: Meet some of the trailblazers who shaped the island, living on Sanibel before there was electricity, paved roads, a bridge to the mainland, or telephone service.

Betty Anholt is a long-time student of Florida’s natural and social history—and in particular that of southwest Florida and the islands. She has published seven books, including Protecting Sanibel and Captiva Islands: The Conservation Story with Charles LeBuff in 2018. She wrote The Trolley Guide to Sanibel and Captiva, and other books on coastal history. Her 2019 historical novel, Turtle Coast imagines the lives of fishermen and their families on Sanibel in the 1920s. Anholt works in reference and cataloging at Sanibel Public Library. 

Charles LeBuff, who served as a refuge officer from 1958 to 1990, has also written Images of America: J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, The Calusan, and The Audubon Warden. His Everglades Wildlife Barons is a biography about the legendary brothers, Bill and Lester Piper of Bonita Springs. He is founding board member of the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation. He formed a loggerhead sea turtle conservation organization in 1968, and received the first sea turtle permit issued by the State of Florida in 1972, which he held for 40 years.