Harper Academic

Why New Orleans Matters

by Tom Piazza

On Sale: 08/25/2015

Price: $18.99

Why New Orleans Matters

Enlarge Book Cover

Why New Orleans Matters

by Tom Piazza

On Sale: 08/25/2015

Format:

Price: $18.99

About the Book

A microcosm of the American “melting pot,” New Orleans is home to French, Spanish, Creole, African, and many other cultural influences. No heaven on earth, it is riddled with poverty, racism and injustice. But it is also a city like no other; the birthplace of jazz, source of spectacular cuisine, and one of the country’s largest ports.

In the immediate wake of Hurricane Katrina, there was some question as to whether or not the devastated city of New Orleans should be rebuilt. Award-winning novelist and cultural critic Tom Piazza is a longtime resident of the Crescent City, and Why New Orleans Matters is his impassioned defense of this unique town.

On its publication, Why New Orleans Matters became an instant classic. Now featuring an extensive afterword that updates the reader on progress made since Katrina, this book is a gift from one of our most talented writers to the city he calls home — and to the nation on which that city’s survival depends.

Tom Piazza is an award-winning writer of both fiction and nonfiction. His books include the Faulkner Society Award-winning novel My Cold War, and Blues and Trouble: Twelve Stories, a widely acclaimed story collection that won the James Michener Award for Fiction. He also won a Grammy Award for Album Notes for Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: A Musical Journey. Piazza’s writing on music has also appeared frequently in the New York Times, the Atlantic Monthly, and Oxford American, where he was the Southern Music columnist for several years.

“Hot and real and from the heart ... An emotionally wrenching experience - at times hilarious, at times heartbreaking.” — New Orleans Times-Picayune

Critical Praise

“Insightful… a sensory paradise... Why New Orleans Matters is a celebration of the spirit of New Orleans.” — BookInfo.net

“An enjoyable meander through what used to be called ‘the city that care forgot.’” — Houston Chronicle

“Powerful, rich with anger, longing, and barely expressible loss.” — Providence Phoenix

“Hot and real and from the heart… An emotionally wrenching experience—at times hilarious, at times heartbreaking.” — New Orleans Times-Picayune

“Pensive and elegiac… sharp [and] steely. …A mournful dirge and a vivacious ode to the city.” — Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“A minor miracle unto itself… a heartfelt, 180-page manifesto… There’s a little something for everyone.” — Gambit Weekly

Humanities Book of the Year Award, Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities —

Best Book Award, New Orleans Gulf South Booksellers Association —

PRAISE FOR MY COLD WAR: “Tom Piazza’s writing pulsates with nervous electrical tension--reveals the emotions that we can’t define.” — Bob Dylan

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Product Details

  • ISBN: 9780062414779
  • ISBN 10: 0062414771
  • Imprint: Harper Perennial
  • On Sale: 08/25/2015
  • Trimsize: 5.000 in (w) x 7.250 in (h) x 0.600 in (d)
  • Pages: 240
  • List Price: $18.99
  • BISAC1 : HISTORY / United States / State & Local / South (AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV)
  • BISAC2 : SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / Urban
  • BISAC3 : TRAVEL / United States / South / West South Central (AR, LA, OK, TX)