New Orleans is a vibe. A mood. Close your eyes and you are transported via its sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and storied mythology. A fully unique place like nowhere else in America. It is salt of the earth working men and women, Southern Gothic craziness, seedy back alleys and freewheeling debauchery,  eccentric non-comformity, gaudy tourist traps and laid-back, well-heeled genteel glamour and more. It‘s a place that gets under your skin and into your pores and straight into your blood. Once you visit, it never leaves you.

                                              

I come by that feeling genetically. My father was born and raised in New Orleans in the 1940s and '50s. He was a miracle child to his older Catholic parents, of French ancestry, who thought their chance for children had passed them by. His mom was a school teacher and his father worked in insurance. He grew up in a modest two-story home which was shared by his parents and various, unmarried female relatives and located in the Lower Ninth Ward’s Holy Cross neighborhood, not far from the Mississippi River. When my dad was nine, his father had a heart attack and was bedridden. From that point forward, until his death a few years later, my dad would really only spend time with his father in an upstairs bedroom while listening to ball games on the radio.

My dad was the adored, spoiled, only child in a house with his mother and five or six spinster and widowed aunts and cousins who put all of their love and energies onto him, for all the children they would never have. In their eyes, he could do no wrong. If you think this all sounds like it’s straight out of a Southern Gothic novel you’re not far off. My mother would tease him that he could be a character in that classic New Orleans novel Confederacy of Dunces and my dad would roll his eyes and shake his head in protest. He has a true New Orleans story. It’s a story of joy and love, regret and sadness all paired with a pot of red beans and rice simmering on the stove and the oppressive New Orleans heat and humidity (with no a/c!) as a backdrop. A lot like fiction —only better—because this story is true.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and its devastation of New Orleans. It’s a city that has clawed its way back from the brink. All these years later, it has achieved a new normal but it’s not necessarily the city it once was, in some ways it’s better—in others not so much, but it still has its indelible vibe, its mood, and definitely its mythology. It’s proof that truth is often stranger and better than fiction.

The memoirs and history books on this list are mostly available as e-books and/or audiobooks via SimplyE and/or OverDrive. 

Memoirs

The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom

In 1961, Sarah Broom’s mother Ivory Mae bought a yellow shotgun house in the neighborhood of New Orleans East and began to build her life. She remarried and eventually the house would be home to 14 people. This is the story of 100 years of one family, a mother’s struggle to keep her family and house together, a love letter to a side of the city tourists never see and an ode to the women in the author’s life who’ve persevered against the odds . Transformative and haunting. Winner of a 2019 National Book Award. 

 

Flight Risk: Memoirs of a New Orleans Bad Boy by James Nolan

A product of his family’s French ancestry, Nolan grew up in an eccentric 7th Ward household. In 1968, as a teenaged poet who flirted with counter culture, he escapes from the gothic mental hospital his parents had committed him to. What follows is a series of near escapes from adventures and questionable choices around the world, until—like a prodigal son—he returns home to the French Quarter and the approaching Hurricane Katrina. A story of a family, a city, and a generation that wanted to change the world. 

 

Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table by Sara Roahen

Wisconsin native Sara Roahen moved to New Orleans to be a chef and through cooking and eating the food of the city learns about herself and finds a home. Her voyage of discovery takes her to the usual suspects of gumbo, po-boys and red beans and rice and into the lesser known immigrant communities with Vietamese pho and Sicilian braciolone. And then the storm hits. Poignant and hopeful that will have you reaching for a cookbook. 

 

Big Freedia: God Save the Queen Diva! by Big Freedia & Nicole Balin

Big Freedia, emerged from the New Orleans Bounce movement its biggest star. A self-proclaimed “mama’s boy,” she grew up in poverty in one the city’s worst neighborhoods. She shaked, twerked and wiggled her way to self acceptance and self confidence. Bounce wasn’t just a dance movement, but her salvation and escape from the strife and violence in her life.  A unique, energetic voice with a story of resilience, joy and booty-popping. 

 

 

Solitary by Albert Woodfox

Growing up poor in 1950s and '60s New Orleans with a fractured home life, Woodfox was often arrested, but it’s through his jail time that he found a kinship and purpose with the tenets of the Black Panther Party. In 1972, while serving a 50-year sentence for armed robbery in Angola prison in Louisiana, a white guard was killed. Through trumped-up charges and a sham trial he and the other men charged, known as the Angola 3, were sentenced to life in solitary confinement. He spent the next forty years in a 6 foot by 9 foot cell for 23 hours a day. He was finally released after years of appeals in 2016. An unforgettable story of how anger turned to activism, resistance and hope and a clarion call for the end of solitary confinement in the U.S. and around the world. Longlisted for the 2019 National Book Award. 

A Season of Night; New Orleans Life After Katrina by Ian McNulty

Like many New Orleanians, as Katrina approached the city, Ian McNulty fled for higher ground.  However, when the floodwaters drained, he and the other die-hards returned to its debris-strewn streets and miles of empty and ruined homes. McNulty moved into the second floor of his wrecked house and began writing his story and the story of his down-but-not-out city—by candlelight on his laptop. In rich prose he details the camaraderie, the depression and fear of those months that followed and the joy of a city coming back to life. 

 

The House on First Street: My New Orleans Story by Julia Reed

A writer for Vogue magazine, Julia Reed arrived in New Orleans to do a story and she really never left. Fifteen years later, she got married, bought a “fixer upper” in the Garden District and, one month later, Katrina hit. A story of falling in love with a place, its eccentric but lovable denizens, making the perfect cocktail and renovating an historic home before and after a devastating storm. Ms. Reed recently passed away in August 2020 from cancer and was known to be witty and irreverent, and a stylish, consummate entertainer who was larger than life.

 

The Year Before the Flood: A New Orleans Story by Ned Sublette

Primarily known as a music writer and historian, Sublette spent part of his childhood in the segregated 1950s Louisana and returned to live in New Orleans in the early 2000s to write and research the book The World that New Orleans Made (see below). This is a story of the city he found filled with personal anecdotes and observations, starting with segregation and Jim Crow laws and weaving in stories of its parties, festivals, parades, music, culture and traditions never forgetting its crushing poverty and legacy of racism. A wonderful , unflinching tribute to the city.

 

My New Orleans, Gone Away: A Memoir of Loss and Renewal by Peter M. Wolf

Peter Wolf grew up in 1950s New Orleans in a large, prominent Jewish family. An idyllic New Orleans childhood with friends and strong family ties. It’s only when he leaves that he begins to understand the extent of the protective bubble he lived in and the truth of the city’s inflexible social and racial structure. A story of a New Orleans Jewish family and how a city and its legacy never leave you. 

 

History

Nine Lives : Mystery, Magic, Death, and Life in New Orleans by Dan Baum

A writer for the New Yorker, Dan Baum went down to write about the aftermath of Katrina and what he found were the people of the city he could not forget. People connected to the city despite all the hardships they faced. The nine lives and voices are pulled from all facets of city life, from outsider artists and Mardi Gras Kings to jazz-playing coroners and transsexual barkeeps. But, perhaps the biggest  character of all is the city of New Orleans itself. Lush and vivid storytelling makes you feel like you are right in the heart of the city

 

The World that Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square by Ned Sublette

Primarily a music historian, Sublette focuses on New Orlean’s first century of existence. It’s a tale of imperial war, religious conflict, searches for treasure, the spread and economy of slavery, the Cuban connection, the cruel business of sugar and the (very different) revolutions of the U.S. and Haiti. By the time Louisiana became a state in 1812, New Orleans was already its own very unique place of culture, music and traditions. An eclectic, cool history that brings the city's early years to life.

The Magic of Marie Laveau: Embracing the Spiritual Voodoo Queen by Denise Alvarado

Marie Laveau was a free woman of color who practically ruled 1800s New Orleans. She is without a doubt one of the most famous past denizens of the city (certainly one of the most mentioned in contemporary pop culture) and one of the best-known practitioners of magic in the country. The author explores Marie’s life and work with all its history and mystery including a look at the history of voodoo in the city, rituals, prayers and recipes. A fascinating, often untold story of an almost mythical figure which dispels many myths surrounding the Vodou religion. 

Bourbon Street: A History by Richard Campanella

An investigation and complete cultural history of one of the world’s most famous (and polarizing) streets. If you’ve ever visited New Orleans you either love its noise, mess, and chaos or you don't; there's rarely an in-between. From the Louisiana Purchase through Katrina, Campanella discusses the musicians, club owners, gangsters, tourists, presidents and showgirls that have made this street so memorable. An entertaining and highly readable, comprehensive history.

 

 

Empire of Sin: A Story of Sex, Murder and the Battle for Modern New Orleans by Gary Krist  

In the early 20th century of New Orleans, the undisputed kingpin of the vice underworld in the Storyville neighborhood was Tom Anderson. For thirty years in one of the wildest and most wicked cities in the world, he battled against his enemies from all sides. From the city’s powerful elites to fellow criminals who wanted their own piece of his empire. Krist tells Anderson’s story full of flamboyant prostitutes, crusading moral reformers, dissolute jazzmen, ruthless Mafiosi, venal politicians, and one extremely violent serial killer.

Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death at a Storm Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink

After Katrina struck and the floodwaters rose, the power failed, and the heat climbed, exhausted caregivers chose to designate certain patients as last in line for rescue. Months later, several health professionals faced criminal allegations that they deliberately injected numerous patients with drugs to hasten their deaths. Physician and investigative reporter Fink spent six years reporting, uncovering the mystery of what happened during those days, putting the reader at the center of the decision-making process. An incredible, heartbreaking piece of journalism that is engrossing and devastating. 

Murder in New Orleans: The Creation of Jim Crow Policing by Jeffrey S. Adler

In 1925, the city’s homicide rate was six times that of New York City and twelve times that of Boston. Adler has researched every homicide recorded in New Orleans between 1925 and 1940, over two thousand in all, scouring police and autopsy reports, old interviews, and crumbling newspapers. He analyses these cases and puts them in a legal, political, social, cultural and demographic context emerging with a tale of racism, urban violence, cruelty and vicious policing that has a relevance and resonance for today. A brilliant and relevant history of policing in an American city.

From the Kingdom of Kongo to Congo Square: Kongo Dances and the Origins of the Mardi Gras Indian by Jeroen Dewulf

A new interpretation of one of most enigmatic of New Orleans’s traditions—the Mardi Gras Indian. The book traces  the "black Indians" back to the ancient Kingdom of Kongo and its war dance. Enslaved Kongolese brought the rhythm, dancing moves, and feathered headwear to the Americas in performances that came to be known as "Kongo dances." Performed in New Orleans’ Congo Square, the dances and costumes would come to be an important part of local African American communities, their cultural heritage and Mardi Gras festival traditions. A groundbreaking academic history on the cultural impact of one New Orleans' most important subcultures.  

Why New Orleans Matters by Tom Piazza

Written in the aftermath of Katrina, award-winning author and New Orleans resident Piazza illuminates unique culture and the uncertain future of the city. With a personal touch, he explores the city’s most famous traditions and festivals, jazz music, Mardi Gras and infamous cuisine, but he doesn’t shy away from the city's deep undercurrent of corruption, racism and injustice. Through it all he tells the story of a citizenry who endure and transcend and keep showcasing the city’s resilience and soul. Full of wit, wisdom and affection for a place and its people.

 

The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast by Douglas Brinkley

The New Orleans resident and Tulane professor goes through the full tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. From the approaching storm and warnings, the flooding of 80% of the city and finally the mismanagement of the recovery from the mayor, the state governor, FEMA and the U.S. government. Storm survivors tell their stories in their own words. Well researched with dozens of interviews, Brinkley documents all the maddening mistakes and the incompetence of those in charge.

Reference Only

Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans by Lawrence  N. Powell

This book tells the story of New Orlean’s earliest days until Louisiana’s statehood in 1812. In the beginning, it was just swampland full of snakes, and battered by hurricanes, and then the colonists of Spain, France, and England arrived. Entrepreneurial merchants and settlers would evolve the swamp from a sleepy French village to a teeming center of trade and commerce and an electric center of culture, language and religion and along the way always power grabs, schemes and ruinous disasters. A dense and comprehensive narrative story for history lovers.  

 

An Oral History of the Ninth Ward by Caroline Gerdes

With its musical influence, racial dynamics, and culinary significance the Ninth Ward is one of New Orlean’s most culturally influential neighborhoods. Filled with extensive research, first-person accounts and interviews of generations of residents. A comprehensive record of the people who know the neighborhood, its history and culture best. A priceless history, Gerdes received a grant from the National Geographic Society to preserve the history of the Ninth Ward through an oral history project, which she has now adapted into a book. 

 

 

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