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The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square
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The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square
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by Ned Sublette
Sales Rank : 67566
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Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Lawrence Hill Books January 1, 2008
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1556527306
ISBN-13: 978-1556527302
Product Dimensions:
9.1 x 6 x 1.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
From Publishers Weekly
In this thoughtful, well-researched history, Sublette (Cuba and Its Music) 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 his account are the African slaves, who began arriving in New Orleans in 1719, and their contributions to the city's musical life. He considers, for example, how musical influences from different parts of Africa—Kongo drumming and Senegambian banjo playing—combined to forge a distinctive musical culture. Sublette also lucidly discusses New Orleans' important role in the domestic slave trade, arguing persuasively that the culture of slavery in New Orleans was different from that in Virginia or South Carolina. In New Orleans, there was a large population of free blacks, and slaves there had greater relative freedom than elsewhere. Furthermore, by the early 19th century, Louisiana was home to more African-born slaves than the Upper South. Those factors, which helped perpetuate African religion and dance, combined to offer an alternative path of development for African American culture. As our nation continues to ponder the future of the Big Easy, Sublette offers an informative accounting of that great city's past. 20 b&w photos. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Product Review
"This articulate and intensely researched history provides not only an impressive look at its subject but also should serve as a model for any future works on great American cities. Cultural studies and history do not get much better than this, a must read for anyone who wonders why this city must be saved." —Booklist
"An unmatchable snapshot of the exhilarating yet often ugly 1960s soul music scene." —Kirkus Reviews
"Made me weep." —The New Yorker
"A fresh a very readable book of scholarship . . . Sublette gets contemporary New Orleans." —The Times Picayune
"With staggering erudition and dazzling style, Sublette weaves things you always wanted to know together in a harmonious whole." —Madison Smartt Bell, author, Toussaint Louverture and All Souls' Rising
"The best argument yet for why we need to save New Orleans." —The Boston Globe
"A compelling portrait of the city as a capital of the Caribbean, an irrepressible source of artistic and political creativity." —Laurent Dubois, author, Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution
"With great detail and talented telling, Sublette especially chronicles the paths slaves took to New Orleans and how those paths led to the city’s personality today." —The Tampa Tribune
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