Summer Reading in Louisiana HistoryLike this list

21 items

• The Fish That Ate the Whale

  the Life and Times of America's Banana King

  Cohen, Rich

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  "The fascinating untold tale of Samuel Zemurray, the self-made banana mogul who went from penniless roadside banana peddler to kingmaker and capitalist revolutionary. When Samuel Zemurray arrived in America in 1891, he was tall, gangly,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• American Prison

  a Reporter's Undercover Journey Into the Business of Punishment

  Bauer, Shane,

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  "Shane Bauer...hired on as a guard in 2014 at Louisiana's Winn Correctional Center, a private prison run by Corrections Corporation of America (now CoreCivic). Equipped with a hidden camera and recorder, he found a snake pit of exploited…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Last Madam

  a Life in the New Orleans Underworld

  Wiltz, Chris

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  The Last Madam uses interviews with Wallace and original research to tell an important story about vice in New Orleans. "In 1916, at age fifteen, Norma Wallace arrived in New Orleans. She quickly went from streetwalker to madam and by 1920…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Accidental City

  Improvising New Orleans

  Powell, Lawrence N.

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  "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."

• Satchmo

  My Life in New Orleans

  Armstrong, Louis, 1901-1971

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  An account of Louis Armstrong's life in New Orleans, as told by Armstrong himself. "This raucous, rich tale of his early days in New Orleans concludes with his departure to Chicago at twenty-one to play with his boyhood idol King Oliver,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Coming Out the Door for the Ninth Ward

  Nine Times Social and Pleasure Club

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  "Through interviews, photographs, and writing, Coming Out the Door for the Ninth Ward brings readers into the world of second lines, brass bands, Magee's Lounge, and the ties that bind."

• Showdown in Desire

  the Black Panthers Take a Stand in New Orleans

  Arend, Orissa

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  "Showdown in Desire portrays the Black Panther Party in New Orleans in 1970, a year that included a shootout with the police on Piety Street, the creation of survival programs, and the daylong standoff between the Panthers and the police…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Bourbon Street

  a History

  Campanella, Richard

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  A vibrant history of one of America's most famous streets. "Richard Campanella’s comprehensive cultural history spans from the street’s inception during the colonial period through three tumultuous centuries, arriving at the world-famous…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Dixie Bohemia

  a French Quarter Circle in the 1920s

  Reed, John Shelton

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  "In Dixie Bohemia John Shelton Reed introduces William Faulkner's circle of friends -- ranging from the distinguished Sherwood Anderson to a gender-bending Mardi Gras costume designer -- and brings to life the people and places of New…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Spirit of Black Hawk

  a Mystery of Africans and Indians

  Berry, Jason

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  "Jason Berry...explores the intriguing mystery of Black Hawk's place in the canon of Spiritual saints. In doing so he recounts the fascinating story of the church and the latter day followers of Mother Anderson in contemporary New Orleans.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Five Days at Memorial

  Life and Death in a Storm-ravaged Hospital

  Fink, Sheri,

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  Five Days at Memorial recounts how one Louisiana hospital weathered Hurricane Katrina, and documents the legal aftermath. "Sheri Fink reconstructs 5 days at Memorial Medical Center and draws the reader into the lives of those who struggled…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Krazy

  George Herriman, a Life in Black and White

  Tisserand, Michael, 1963-

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  "The creator of the greatest comic strip in history finally gets his due--in an eye-opening biography that lays bare the truth about his art, his heritage, and his life on America's color line. "

• Soul by Soul

  Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market

  Johnson, Walter, 1967-

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  "Using slave narratives, court records, planters' letters, and more, Walter Johnson enters the slave pens and showrooms of the New Orleans slave market to observe how slavery turned men and women into merchandise and how slaves resisted…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Earl of Louisiana

  Liebling, A. J. (Abbott Joseph), 1904-1963

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  The Earl of Louisiana covers Earl Long's tumultuous last year in politics. It "recreates a stormy era in Louisiana politics and captures the style and personality of one of the most colorful and paradoxical figures in the state's history. "

• The Lost German Slave Girl

  the Extraordinary True Story of the Slave Sally Miller and Her Fight for Freedom

  Bailey, John, 1944 Dec. 15-

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  "Louisiana, 1843: a German immigrant thinks she recognizes a young slave girl as the long-lost daughter of her German friend, but the girl has no memory of such a past, and her owner refuses to free her. In novelistic detail, historian…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Empire of Sin

  a Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans

  Krist, Gary

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  "A vibrant and immersive account of New Orleans' other civil war, at a time when commercialized vice, jazz culture, and endemic crime defined the battlegrounds of the Crescent City. Empire of Sin re-creates the remarkable story of New…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Carnival of Fury

  Robert Charles and the New Orleans Race Riot of 1900

  Hair, William Ivy

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  In 1900, Robert Charles shot 27 white people in New Orleans, sparking a riot and a manhunt. "With the few clues available, William Ivy Hair has pieced together the story of Charles, a man whose life spanned the thirty-four years from…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• I Hear You Knockin'

  the Sound of New Orleans Rhythm and Blues

  Hannusch, Jeff

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  I Hear You Knockin' features "colorful and informative portraits of more than two dozen important New Orleans Rhythm and Blues figures. In most cases, the subjects tell their own stories, sharing their successes and joys, as well as their…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Voodoo Queen

  the Spirited Lives of Marie Laveau

  Ward, Martha

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  "Voodoo Queen brings the improbable testimonies of saints, spirits, and never-before-printed eyewitness accounts of ceremonies and magical crafts together to illuminate the lives of the two Marie Laveaus, leaders of a major, indigenous…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The World That Made New Orleans

  From Spanish Silver to Congo Square

  Sublette, Ned, 1951-

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  The World That Made New Orleans "charts the development of New Orleans, from European colonization through the Haitian revolution (which was crucial to French and American negotiations over Louisiana) to the Louisiana Purchase. Central to…Read moreRead more of this annotation