Synopses & Reviews
Every place has its history. But what is it about New Orleans that makes it more than just the sum of the events that have happened there? What is it about the spirit of the people who live there that could produce a music, a cuisine, an architecture, a total environment, the mere mention of which can bring a smile to the face of someone who has never even set foot there?
What is the meaning of a place like that, and what is lost if it is lost?
The winds of Hurricane Katrina, and the national disaster that followed, brought with them a moment of shared cultural awareness: Thousands were killed and many more displaced; promises were made, forgotten, and renewed; the city of New Orleans was engulfed by floodwaters of biblical proportions—all in a wrenching drama that captured international attention. Yet the passing of that moment has left too many questions.
What will become of New Orleans in the months and years to come? What of its people, who fled the city on a rising tide of panic, trading all they knew and loved for a dim hope of shelter and rest? And, ultimately, what do those people and their city mean to America and the world?
In Why New Orleans Matters, award-winning author and New Orleans resident Tom Piazza illuminates the storied culture and uncertain future of this great and most neglected of American cities. With wisdom and affection, he explores the hidden contours of familiar traditions like Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest, and evokes the sensory rapture of the city that gave us jazz music and Creole cooking. He writes, too, of the city's deep undercurrents of corruption, racism, and injustice, and of how its people endure and transcend those conditions. And, perhaps most important, he asks us all to consider the spirit of this place and all the things it has shared with the world—grace and beauty, resilience and soul. "That spirit is in terrible jeopardy right now," he writes. "If it dies, something precious and profound will go out of the world forever."
Why New Orleans Matters is a gift from one of our most talented writers to the beloved and important city he calls home—and to a nation to whom that city's survival has been entrusted.
Review
“Powerful, rich with anger, longing, and barely expressible loss.” Providence Phoenix
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Best Book Award, New Orleans Gulf South Booksellers Association No Source
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“An enjoyable meander through what used to be called ‘the city that care forgot.” Houston Chronicle
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Humanities Book of the Year Award, Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities No Source
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PRAISE FOR MY COLD WAR:“Tom Piazzas writing pulsates with nervous electrical tension--reveals the emotions that we cant define.” Bob Dylan
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“Insightful… a sensory paradise... Why New Orleans Matters is a celebration of the spirit of New Orleans.” BookInfo.net
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“Pensive and elegiac… sharp [and] steely. …A mournful dirge and a vivacious ode to the city.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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"A minor miracle unto itself... a heartfelt, 180-page manifesto... There's a little something for everyone." Gambit Weekly
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“Hot and real and from the heart… An emotionally wrenching experienceat times hilarious, at times heartbreaking.” New Orleans Times-Picayune
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“A minor miracle unto itself… a heartfelt, 180-page manifesto… Theres a little something for everyone.” Gambit Weekly
Synopsis
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
Synopsis
An impassioned plea for the meaning of New Orleans in American life–past, present, and future–at its moment of greatest peril.
Award–winning novelist and cultural critic writer Tom Piazza is a longtime resident of New Orleans, and a celebrator of the music and culture of that city. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, from a temporary outpost in Missouri, he began work immediately after the storm on this impassioned book–length essay on the storied past, imperiled present, and uncertain future of this great and most neglected of American cities. At its heart, it is a valentine to the people of New Orleans, and a plea on for their spiritual survival. "That spirit is in terrible jeopardy right now," he writes. "If it dies, something precious and profound will go out of the world forever. Maybe not entirely; maybe New Orleans people, black and white, will get together in exile every year and commemmorate their holidays and their spirit, Mardi Gras and jazzfest, red beans on Monday and barbecue and beer at Vaughan's on Friday evening, maybe zydeco night at Rock n' bowl on Thursday, and keep it alive in exile as the descendents of the Israelites have kept their faith and their covenant alive. That is up to them. But in the near term, the place, the sacred ground, that gave birth to all that beautiful and deep spirit hangs in the balance."
In the tradition of Pete Hamill's Why Sinatra Matters, Peter Guralnick's Searching for Robert Johnson, and E. B. White's Here Is New York, Why New Orleans Matters is a gift from one of our most talented writers to the beloved and important city he calls home–and to a nation to whom that city's survival has been entrusted.
Synopsis
An impassioned plea for the meaning of New Orleans in American life–past, present, and future–at its moment of greatest peril.
Award–winning novelist and cultural critic writer Tom Piazza is a longtime resident of New Orleans, and a celebrator of the music and culture of that city. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, from a temporary outpost in Missouri, he began work immediately after the storm on this impassioned book–length essay on the storied past, imperiled present, and uncertain future of this great and most neglected of American cities. At its heart, it is a valentine to the people of New Orleans, and a plea on for their spiritual survival. "That spirit is in terrible jeopardy right now," he writes. "If it dies, something precious and profound will go out of the world forever. Maybe not entirely; maybe New Orleans people, black and white, will get together in exile every year and commemmorate their holidays and their spirit, Mardi Gras and jazzfest, red beans on Monday and barbecue and beer at Vaughan's on Friday evening, maybe zydeco night at Rock n' bowl on Thursday, and keep it alive in exile as the descendents of the Israelites have kept their faith and their covenant alive. That is up to them. But in the near term, the place, the sacred ground, that gave birth to all that beautiful and deep spirit hangs in the balance."
In the tradition of Pete Hamill's Why Sinatra Matters, Peter Guralnick's Searching for Robert Johnson, and E. B. White's Here Is New York, Why New Orleans Matters is a gift from one of our most talented writers to the beloved and important city he calls home–and to a nation to whom that city's survival has been entrusted.
About the Author
Tom Piazza is the author of ten books of fiction and nonfiction, including the post-Katrina classic Why New Orleans Matters and the Willie Morris Award-winning novel City Of Refuge. His other books include the critically acclaimed novel My Cold War and the short-story collection Blues And Trouble. A well known writer on American music as well, he won a Grammy Award for his album notes to Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: A Musical Journey. Piazza currently writes for HBO's New Orleans-based dramatic series TREME. He lives in New Orleans.