George Hurchalla

George Hurchalla, is the editor of The Hell with Politics: The Life and Writings of Jane Wood Reno and the author of Going Underground: American Punk 1979–1989. He is the grandson of Jane Wood Reno and a Florida native. Journalist, activist, and adventurer, Jane Wood Reno (1913-1992) was one of the most groundbreaking and colorful American women of the twentieth century. Her grandson, George Hurchalla, offers in The Extraordinary Life of Jane Wood Reno (University Press of Florida) an intimate biography of a free thinker who shattered barriers during the early years of Miami. Born to a poor Georgia family, Reno scored as a genius on an IQ test at the age of 11, earned a degree in physics, worked as a social worker, explored the Everglades, wrestled alligators, helped pioneer scuba diving in Florida, interviewed Amelia Earhart, downed shots with Tennessee Williams, traveled the world, and raised four children. She built her own house by hand, funding the project with her writing. She wrote countless freelance articles under male names for the Miami Daily News until she became so indispensable that the paper was forced to take her on staff and let her publish under her own name. A seemingly fearless champion of the underdog, and restless bohemian, Jane Wood Reno was a mighty personality far ahead of her time. David Lawrence Jr., retired publisher of the Miami Herald, wrote ““What a life. A character with character. […] This book has most everything because Jane Wood Reno had and did most everything.”