[Dixielandjazz] New book: The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square

[Ulf Jagfors]

About  N.O history and the environment Nick La Rocca lived in.

This book might be of interest for some of you on the list

Ulf

 

The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square
(Hardcover)

by Ned Sublette (Author) 

 

http://www.amazon.com/World-That-Made-New-Orleans/dp/1556527306/ref=cm_cr_pr
_product_top

 

 

Customer Reviews 

  

By Frank French   

This writing covers a lot of territory in a relatively short space. I could
have read much more. There are insights and clues into the life of New
Orleans from its earliest days as a French and Spanish colony and the first
African-American city in the United States. The author indicates the
importance of the place historically, economically and culturally. New
Orleans appears to have fallen off the radar of most Americans recently,
probably due to the fact that most Americans get their information from TV
and that medium, being owned an operated by a few corporate interests, has
censored the story of the destruction resulting from an apparently avoidable
disaster. But the mainstream media has also turned a blind eye to culture in
general and that's why this book, and Sublette's other book "Cuba and its
Music" are so important. It is as true today as it ever was that being
literate is a good way to overcome widespread ignorance. So I recommend
reading both of these books as great eye and mind openers.  

 

By Katharine M. Savage   

I checked this book out when I was planning a trip to New Orleans. Initially
I thought it was not what I was looking for but Ned Sublette's style was so
laid back and appealing that I kept on turning the pages. When the time came
for me to return the book, I wasn't done so I purchased it. The history is
fascinating and rich in detail as to why New Orleans is decidedly Caribbean
in its history and culture. I never knew how much the Spanish had influenced
the creation of New Orleans. I really enjoyed the intricate history of how
the French, Haitians, Cubans and Americans also came into play. My only
complaint is that there was so little mention of the Native American's
influence that I am unsure if that is because they had no real influence or
if they were just overlooked. 

 

I hope the publisher comes out with a digital edition of this book. I would
love to have it on my Kindle. Like Charles C. Mann's 1491: New Revelations
of the Americas Before Columbus, it is the sort of book I would like to have
handy to consult or re-read sections of.  

 

By Danielle L. Halikias (Texas)    

I read in bed so I tend to fall asleep after a few pages of a typical book.
This book was the exception. Great information on the countries of origin of
the different slaves and how they impacted the culture and music of the deep
south. I finally understand the influence of the French, Spanish and British
on early America. Loved it!   

 

By Mark Twain Jr. (Fishtown, Philadelphia, PA) 

Ned Sublette is one of the brightest minds alive today. His fusion of
historical detail, cultural development and human insight is a wonder to
behold. If you think that you know something about American history and its
antecedents think again, Sublette has redrawn the map of where we came from
and the multiplicity of determinants that brought us to where we are today. 

Not Since Robert Farris Thompson has anyone brought to bear such a feast of
intellectual gifts and profound freedom from dogma. A work of unrivaled
erudition.  

 

By Beth Lapides 

Sublette has done an amazing job pulling together political, cultural and
social elements into a very compelling narrative. And super-informative too.
Extremely impressive historical writing (and this is coming from a history
major).

I LOVE how international and broad the perspective is. He really illuminates
the dynamics of the time in a fantastic and vivid way. 

It's seriously among the most readable and thorough books I've read.  

 

By Karin Norgard  (Anchorage, Alaska, USA) 

My experience reading this book was a love/hate relationship. Some chapters
are fascinating and made me want to keep reading, while others were too dry
and made it tempting to not finish the book at all. This book offers a great
history of New Orleans' early development and especially how it developed in
the context of what was happening internationally. However, the book seemed
to suddenly stop at the end, leaving the reader hanging without providing
any connection to the 20th and 21st centuries. For music fans who loved
Sublette's previous book, Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the
Mambo and are looking for more of the same, this book does touch on the
music of New Orleans, but this is definitely a general history book overall,
not a book on music history.   

 

By Alex Telander "Alex C. Telander" (Davis, CA) 

Ned Sublette, author of Cuba and Its Music, embarks on a daring undertaking
in a detailed and complete history of the Big Easy. Sublette spent the
2004-2005 year in New Orleans, leaving just three months before Hurricane
Katrina hit and the levees broke, changing the city forever; making this
book all the more meaningful and emotional. 

 

With extensive research, Sublette starts at the very beginning, explaining
the topography and geology of the Mississippi River and the substantial yet
flooded Mississippi Delta, and how there was simply nothing that could
really be built there before the advent of water pumps created the potential
for draining of the area. In a time when the land that would one day be
Louisiana was being fought over and used by the Spanish, French, and
British, while every piece of natural resource in this part of the world was
being used for the benefit of the Western World, coupled with the unceasing
influx of slaves, a group of settlers began a town that would one day become
the great city of New Orleans. Inhabitants included an influx of forced
citizens from France consisting of prostitutes and convicts. 

 

>From its genesis, New Orleans was composed of an entire world of
nationalities, cultures, faiths, and languages. Like the spine of the book,
Sublette uses music as the backbone of The World That Made New Orleans,
discussing the influences and developments of these different people, many
of them slaves. It is a city that, after the catastrophic events of
Hurricane Katrina, will never be the same - like New York missing the World
Trade Center skyline. Thankfully, Sublette does an incredible job of
revealing the many chapters in the history of New Orleans. 

 

For more reviews, and writings, or to buy yourself a copy, please visit
www.alexctelander.com 

By Charles Wilder (Dover, NH United States)   

as enlightening as it is it has a couple of major problems. It just peters
out at the end as if the author lost focus and couldn't figure out what to
do about it. The chapter on the "Indians" seemed to be just tacked on! It
was as if it was taken from another book. It didn't fit this book at all.
Maybe it would have if the author had continued his narritive in a linear
fashion. I'm surprised the publisher or editor let this glaring problem go!
Also there is the VERY tiresome rehashing of the "Did Tom sire Sally's
children " routine. To further the sin the writer uses this as premise to
launch into an anti-Jefferson rant. This is amateurish and I'm again
surprised the editor didn't rein the author. 

Thomas Jefferson had his many flaws as did all the founders but I doubt he
was as evil as the author makes him out to be. Other than those problems I
enjoyed the book very much!  

 

By Michael K. Smith (Gonzales, Louisiana)     

Louisiana natives have always known there are two independent aspects to
their state: New Orleans and everyplace else. Like other major ports, the
Crescent City has always played host to a mix of cultures, but this is still
the American city visitors are most likely to find "foreign." In this very
readable cultural narrative of what makes New Orleans historically so
unique, Sublette traces the city's development from its founding on the
highest point available at the Southern end of the Mississippi, to its rapid
progress through three different colonial regimes (French for a few years,
Spanish for two generations, French again for three weeks, and American ever
since), to the arrival of statehood in 1819. He also points out that until
1962, New Orleans was also a major "Caribbean" port. The Cuban blockade
which was instituted that year did major damage to the city's economy and
cultural relations -- a decline into which Katrina may have driven the last
nail. (The jury will be out on that for awhile yet.) As the author of a
well-received book on Cuban music, Sublette is also closely tuned into that
side of New Orleans history and culture, pointing out that Place Congo,
where slaves and then freedmen gathered to make music and dance for more
than a century, is only a block or two from the small studio where in 1947
Roy Brown recorded "Good Rockin' Tonight" -- arguably the first
rock-`n'-roll tune. Fascinating bits of less-known history crop up all
through this book, from the special place Napoleon Bonaparte had in the
local imagination and the effects of pro-French sentiment among the Irish,
to the special place mockery of whites had in the slave and free black
communities. 

By V. Tyler (Colorado USA) This book, as previously noted, is a complex,
detailed and enthralling (for history buffs) book that ties together many
different historical threads that make up one part of the culture,
especially the music culture, of New Orleans. While my heart has gone out to
New Orleans and its people since Katrina, this book really made me
understand so much more of what makes New Orleans unique, and what the U.S.
will lose in losing some of the people who make up New Orleans' culture. 

 

In addition, when recently in New Orleans, we attended a local festival (the
Mirliton Festival), and when a local group, 101 Runners, played "Injun"
music, I knew exactly what was going on, thanks to Mr. Sublette's book. I
felt privileges to see, and be a little part of, this apect of the local
culture. 

 R. Grimaldi (Tenafly, NJ)     

There aren't many good histories of New Orleans available and this is one of
the best and most comprehensive (as far as how much of that history it
covers...i don't mean to imply it is a complete history) i have come across.
For those who know the New Orleans area well, the anecdotes regarding
characters who have generally been lost to history for whom bridges,
neighborhoods, and streets are named will fascinate and amuse. Overall the
information and the reverent tone with which it is presented make this a
must read for both citizens and lovers of the City of New Orleans.I have
made this a gift for a half dozen friends and family.