Klik på en miniature for at gå til Google Books
|
Indlæser... Bourbon Street: A Historyaf Richard Campanella
   Ingen Der er ingen diskussionstråde på Snak om denne bog.  Adakian | Jan 20, 2022 |  ingen anmeldelser | tilføj en anmeldelse
Hæderspriser
New Orleans is a city of many storied streets, but only one conjures up as much unbridled passion as it does fervent hatred, simultaneously polarizing the public while drawing millions of visitors a year. A fascinating investigation into the mile-long urban space that is Bourbon Street, 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 entertainment strip of today. Clearly written and carefully researched, Campanella?s book interweaves world events?from the Louisiana Purchase to World War II to Hurricane Katrina?with local and national characters, ranging from presidents to showgirls, to explain how Bourbon Street became an intriguing and singular artifact, uniquely informative of both New Orleans?s history and American society. While offering a captivating historical-geographical panorama of Bourbon Street, Campanella also presents a contemporary microview of the area, describing the population, architecture, and local economy, and shows how Bourbon Street operates on a typical night. The fate of these few blocks in the French Quarter is played out on a larger stage, however, as the internationally recognized brands that Bourbon Street merchants and the city of New Orleans strive to promote both clash with and complement each other. An epic narrative detailing the influence of politics, money, race, sex, organized crime, and tourism, Bourbon Street: A History ultimately demonstrates that one of the most well-known addresses in North America is more than the epicenter of Mardi Gras; it serves as a battleground for a fundamental dispute over cultural authenticity and commodification. Ingen biblioteksbeskrivelser fundet. |
Aktuelle diskussionerIngenPopulære omslag
 Google Books — Indlæser...GenrerMelvil Decimal System (DDC)976.3History and Geography North America South Central U.S. LouisianaLC-klassificeringVurderingGennemsnit: (4.67)
Er det dig?Bliv LibraryThing-forfatter. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1
Totaling 368 pages, "Bourbon Street: A History" is a scholarly work with little in common with the many tourist publications which feature this famed thoroughfare. Campanella divides his book into three parts: Part I--Origins; Part II--Fame and Infamy; and Part III--Bourbon Street As A Social Artifact. Each part consists of a number of chapters, and the parts are followed by several pages of endnotes and an index.
Parts I and II constitute the history portion of this work and are arranged chronologically. Part I (Chapters 1-5) covers the early history of New Orleans and how the city's footprint developed in those years, but the real focus on Bourbon Street begins in Part II (Chapters 6-11) which begins in post-Civil War New Orleans, when Bourbon Street began to develop its distinctive character. The Bourbon Street most people understand today first appears in Chapter 9, which details the post-World War II years. The last chapter in Part II, Chapter 11, takes the story to 2012, which allows the author to go into some detail about New Orleans' post-Katrina recovery.
Part III is probably the most interesting segment of the book, as Campanella applies his considerable analytical skills discussing in separate chapters how Bourbon Street ended up with the businesses that it did, how The Street works, local reaction to The Street's excesses, sin and inauthenticity on The Street, the many Bourbon Street imitators, and Bourbon Street in the midst of adversity. While the author uses statistical information throughout the book, he did much of the footwork for some of those stats, to include personally tallying pedestrian traffic on Bourbon on diverse days such as Christmas and Mardi Gras. Campanella expands on the work of other scholars by applying his geographical skills; for example, he used another researcher's study on vice arrests in 19th century New Orleans to show where such crimes took place in the French Quarter--a study that gives context to the rise of Bourbon Street in the 20th century.
I heartily recommend this book for anyone interested in a deeper dive on one of the country's more entertaining and interesting venues. (