What question did this study set out to answer?

The article explores the representation of white-collar crime in mid-century Florida children's literature and its implications for authority and order.

April 1, 2026

The Idea of (Dis)Order in the Keys: White-Collar Crime in Mid-Twentieth-Century Florida Children's Literature

Key Points

The article explores the representation of white-collar crime in mid-century Florida children's literature and its implications for authority and order.
Analysis of Bert Sackett's novel Hurricane Treasure: The Secret of Injun Key (1945)
Examination of themes around order, authority, and land value
Contextualization within mid-century Florida children's literature
The novel shifts focus from physical wilderness to bureaucratic conflict over land and resources
It illustrates how justice aligns with settler interests while diminishing Indigenous claims
Highlights the significance of property disputes in shaping narratives of morality and justice

Abstract

Abstract: Florida children's adventure and crime fiction has been called the "blazing conscience of the Sunshine State," yet some of its dramas of wrongdoing often hinge less on spectacular violence than on property disputes and fraud. This article demonstrates that mid-century Florida youth narratives stage the state as a pressure point where order and authority are negotiated through white-collar crime. Focusing on Bert Sackett's Hurricane Treasure: The Secret of Injun Key (1945), this article shows how the novel relocates conflict from wilderness survival to bureaucratic legal contestation through deeds, boundary markers, and estate claims, while tying land value to extractive resources such as mahogany and sponges. Set during World War II and the emergence of marketing for a younger readership, Sackett's plot reveals how justice can affirm settler ownership even as Indigenous claims remain diminished.

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