Review by Choice Review
Few North American cities enjoy the extremes in perception that characterize New Orleans. Some visitors relish the nonstop partying on Bourbon Street and the general carefree abandon evident citywide; others loath the stifling heat and humidity, fear the ubiquitous crime, and/or resent the perceived ascendance of pagan ribaldry. Prevailing perceptions of the Crescent City are long established, but the disaster of Hurricane Katrina recast interpretations of New Orleans to include acknowledgement of its humanity. Powell (Tulane) advances sympathetic understanding of what very well may be the US's most curious city. He traces the dynamics of politics and business that ultimately located a city in virtually uninhabitable swampland. The lively narrative continues from the French through the Spanish colonial periods, concluding with Louisiana statehood in 1812, all the while revealing the disparate forces that bound the city together just as they threatened to tear it apart. Consistent with the author's established interests, race and race relations remain central to this interpretation. Readers may not agree with all aspects of Powell's argument, but they are certain to find this an intriguing read that answers scores of questions about a complex city. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers and undergraduate collections. S. C. Hyde Southeastern Louisiana University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This rich story of the emergence of the Crescent City from its unlikely floodplain site is the best history of early New Orleans ever written. Despite Powell's claim that the Big Easy was an accidental, improvised city, in this respect it was not unlike many other human habitations. But from its origins in the late 17th century, New Orleans was unlike all others on this continent in its mixed population; its distinctive overlay of French, Spanish, African, and American peoples, languages, and ways; and its unfavorable location. "[T]he place was cobbled together from the bricolage of cultural borrowings and solutions improvised on the fly." Nothing in this book surpasses Powell's portrayal of the city's mixed American-born people and its free people of color. "Early New Orleans was a place of reinvented identities, a crossroads of improvisation. People came there to make themselves anew." In Katrina's aftermath and the shock of nature's claims on our lives, this timely work brings out the complexities of New Orleans's history as well as the rich tapestry of its gritty people. Scholarly but readable, this is a splendid telling presented in a clear, robust voice. 19 illus., 2 maps. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Erected on infested swampland, New Orleans is a city that, in practical terms, never should have existed. However, its location at the mouth of the mighty Mississippi-the largest river in North America and fourth largest in the world-meant that this was a city destined to flourish. Profiling its founders, Powell (James H. Clark Endowed Chair in American Civilization & director, New Orleans Ctr. for the Gulf South, Tulane Univ.) details the late 17th-century birth and evolution of this diverse city that has a love-hate relationship with its residents. His research, which focuses on those emerging years rather than recent history, coupled with his profound understanding of his subject, deepens readers' appreciation and understanding of this city. VERDICT Though this volume, complete with illustrations and maps, could easily serve as a source for a sophisticated formal study of New Orleans/Louisiana history, it is also accessible to general readers seeking deep and contextualized information on this topic, especially if they're prepared to dive right into the subject without much lead-in. Recommended for all collections covering the early history of New Orleans and Louisiana.-Sonnet Ireland, Univ. of New Orleans Lib. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Troubled Memory: Anne Levy, the Holocaust, and David Duke's Louisiana, 2000, etc.) returns with a dense, complex history of a dense, complex settlement. The author knows well the geographical and geopolitical history of the city where he teaches, and the complexity of this story would daunt a faint-hearted historian--which Powell manifestly is not. He dives confidently into the murky bayou of the region's story, and what a tangled tale he emerges to tell. The author begins with the explorers, provides geological history of the region and of the serpentine, intractable Mississippi River. Powell then narrates the stories of the French, Spanish, African slaves and British--all of whom settled, collided, mingled, married, reproduced and competed. The European colonial powers, especially France, attempted to impose on the area--a most unlikely spot for a settlement, as Powell continually reminds us--some sort of design, but the terrain, the weather and the unique human mixture imposed their own fluid economy and culture. After taking over, Spain found it more profitable to practice a more relaxed reign, especially with slaves, who enjoyed more freedom of movement, economic clout and opportunities for manumission than they did with the French, and than they would with the Americans. The author begins with initial settlements and ends with the War of 1812. Along the way he tells stories--sometimes too densely for general readers--of the well-known (John Law) and little known (an ineffectual Spanish governor, Don Antonio de Ulloa) and should-be-known (the organizers of New Orleans' capable black militia). Powell is brilliant at elucidating the city's intricate racial politics. Superior scholarship provides a sturdy foundation for a hefty narrative edifice that sometimes groans with the weight of detail.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
