Overview
Named one of the Top 10 Books of 2008 by The Times-Picayune.
Winner of the 2009 Humanities Book of the Year award from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.
Awarded the New Orleans Gulf South Booksellers Association Book of the Year Award for 2008.
New Orleans is the most elusive of American cities. The product of the centuries-long struggle among three mighty empires—France, Spain, and England—and among their respective American colonies and enslaved African peoples, it has always seemed like a foreign port to most Americans, baffled as they are by its complex cultural inheritance.
The World That Made New Orleans offers a new perspective on this insufficiently understood city by telling the remarkable story of New Orleans’s first century—a tale of imperial war, religious conflict, the search for treasure, the spread of slavery, the Cuban connection, the cruel aristocracy of sugar, and the very different revolutions that created the United States and Haiti. It demonstrates that New Orleans already had its own distinct personality at the time of Louisiana’s statehood in 1812. By then, important roots of American music were firmly planted in its urban swamp—especially in the dances at Congo Square, where enslaved Africans and African Americans appeared en masse on Sundays to, as an 1819 visitor to the city put it, “rock the city.”
This book is a logical continuation of Ned Sublette’s previous volume, Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo, which was highly praised for its synthesis of musical, cultural, and political history. Just as that book has become a standard resource on Cuba, so too will The World That Made New Orleans long remain essential for understanding the beautiful and tragic story of this most American of cities.
Synopsis
Offering a new perspective on the unique cultural influences of New Orleans, this entertaining history captures the soul of the city and reveals its impact on the rest of the nation. Focused on New Orleans’ first century of existence, it presents a comprehensive, chronological narrative of the political, cultural, and musical development of Louisiana’s early years. This innovative history tracks the important roots of American music back to the swamp town, making clear the effects of centuries-long struggles among France, Spain, and England on the city’s unique culture. It also reveals the origins of jazz and the city’s eclectic musical influences, including the role of the slave trade. Featuring little-known facts about the cultural development of New Orleans—such as the real significance of gumbo, the origins of the tango, and the first appearance of the words vaudeville and voodoo—this rich historical narrative explains how New Orleans’ colonial influences still shape the city today.
Laurent Dubois
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)
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
Like numerous other port cities, New Orleans has benefited from a blend of cultural traditions, but there has always been something unique about the Big Easy. Ned Sublette's The World That Made New Orleans delves into that singular quality by examining multiple threads of influence that have left their mark on this historic city. Tracking its development from colonization to Louisiana statehood, Sublette shows how African slaves, free blacks, and Europeans have all left their imprint on the cultural life of this busy Gulf port.Booklist
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.Laurent Dubois
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)Madison Smartt Bell
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)Ted Widmer
Before Katrina, this book would have been merely excellent. Now it is essential. (ed Widmer, author, Martin Van Buren, and editor, Library of America's American Speeches)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 2007 Reed Business InformationChoice
Relevant and understandable . . . highly recommended.The Boston Globe
The best argument yet for why we need to save New Orleans.The Nation
An absorbing history of [New Orleans'] rise.The Times Picayune
A rich look at colonial New Orleans.truthdig.com
Sublette's scholarship lends sturdiness and cohesion to a historical record that otherwise might be washed away through carelessness or intentionally erased.School Library Journal
Adult/High School- This book explores the economic and cultural roots of New Orleans. With the exception of a brief coda that reflects on recent Mardi Gras celebrations, Sublette focuses on the pre-20th-century history that shaped the modern city. The author traces its origins across the Atlantic to 18th-century monarchs and the French Revolution. He follows the city's development chronologically, noting that Spanish explorers and a thriving slave trade with the west coast of Africa also left their mark. These influences are evident in the music and dance whose legacy reaches far beyond the Mississippi Delta. Sublette's style is delightfully readable, avoiding stilted academic prose while maintaining a scholarly approach that is peppered with fascinating details. Filled with period maps, this volume will appeal to history buffs and readers interested in the musical heritage of New Orleans.-Heidi Dolamore, San Mateo County Library, CA