Louisiana

Delve deep into the history of Lake Charles, Louisiana's past, through pirates, Creoles and cowboys, and other lost stories with historian Adley Cormier.

Fires, hurricanes, neglect and progress erased much of Lake Charles's physical history. The young town was a magnet for pirates and privateers, like the infamous Jean Lafitte, who conducted business at the mouth of what is today called the Contraband Bayou. Michigan Men, creoles and cowboys made their way to the fledgling Louisiana town to start new lives. A great lumber industry shaped the town in the nineteenth century. Streetcars ran routes around the clock seven days a week. Author and historian Adley Cormier delves deep into Lake Charles's past to uncover a history that has been lost to time and change.

Celebrate 300 years of New Orleans history!

Originally written by Joan B. Garvey and Mary Lou Widmer, this book is widely regarded as the definitive text for tourists, locals, teachers, and students. Complete with a new forward by Barbara Robichaux, a professional French Quarter tour guide, this concise history directs the reader through the diverse traditions and cultures of New Orleans. The updates in this tricentennial edition celebrate the 300-year history of New Orleans, with chapters including details of the city's founding, changing European rule, slavery, and much more. With lists of notable figures and events, this reference volume is a must for historians, tour guides, and lovers of the Big Easy.

A heart-pounding race through history!

The thunder and excitement of the race has long drawn visitors to the Fair Grounds, where legendary horses including Black Gold, Whirlaway, and Risen Star have raced to victory. The history of one of America's oldest Thoroughbred horse-racing tracks is chronicled here through interviews, rare photographs, and archival lithographs. Since 1872, the New Orleans Fair Grounds has been home to exhibitions, boxing matches, baseball games, and even special events like ostrich racing. Now owned by Churchill Downs, Inc., the Fair Grounds has withstood hurricanes, fire, and bankruptcy and stands today as a vibrant sports and festival venue in a historic New Orleans neighborhood.

The iconic restaurant famous for "Breakfast at Brennan's" was a Creole favorite and New Orleans staple for decades before its closure in 2013. Now available in paperback, these classic recipes are sprinkled with both family and restaurant history and seasoned with the original illustrations. This collection is a must for everyone with a craving for true New Orleans flavor!

Explore the magic of the Crescent City after dark!

Stroll down Frenchman Street, enter a dimly light jazz club, and experience the calming aura of New Orleans at night. View the stunning façades of the Napoleon House and Brennan's Restaurant accented by soft-burning streetlights and the white glow of the moon. Photojournalist Kerri McCaffety takes you on a late-night tour of New Orleans, letting the intriguing beauty of the city gleam beneath a Crescent moon. Jackson Square lit by candlelight, the Superdome awash in color, and avenues twinkling with Christmas lights are just a few of the many memorable sights captured. Nightspots, Mardi Gras parades, holiday decor, architecture from the universities to the French Quarter, streetcars, cemeteries, fireworks, and even lightning all shine from the pages of this gorgeous collection.

Minden thrived commercially, with economic gain centralized in Bayou Dorcheat, which was composed of separate landings acting as shipping points for goods coming from much of northern Louisiana. Industries like cotton farming and the Minden Lumber Mill, formed in 1901 as one of the largest mills in the United States at the time, caused the town's population to nearly double in just ten years. Under the leadership of great men like E.S. Richardson, Minden also became a model for other towns of similar size in the field of education. At the same time, disastrous fires, a catastrophic tornado, and the devastation of the steamboat trade on Bayou Dorcheat by the coming of the railroad challenged the community in the ever-changing twentieth century.

State history, behind-the-scenes stories, funny anecdotes, and life lessons come together to form Robert Mann's indelible memoir about his life and career alongside some of the most powerful lawmakers in the South.

Offering an in-depth, personal perspective of working in government, Mann shares the lives of major politicians and how they affected his own beliefs, eventually shifting his ideological views. Mann has known every Louisiana governor--aside from Uncle Earl--since 1944. He has interviewed past presidents, senators, and aides as a journalist and served as press secretary to two of the most influential Louisiana legislators. He acted as press secretary to the 1990 US Senate reelection campaign of J. Bennett Johnston when he defeated former Klan leader David Duke. He helped elect Mary Landrieu to the US Senate, and his engaging stories range from Russell Long's struggle with his father's past to how Mann lost John Breaux's suitcase. Through it all, Mann writes with humor and empathy, casting politics and politicians in a refreshing, human light. His life story serves as both a cautionary tale for young people seeking a political career and an entertaining recitation of his decades of experience, offering a fresh look at Louisiana political history.

At the close of the nineteenth century, Louisiana's ports hosted an influx of Italian immigrants. Like so many immigrant communities before, acclimating to their new home was not easy.

Though the Italian contribution to Louisiana's culture is palpable and celebrated, at one time ethnic Italians were constantly embroiled in scandal, sometimes deserved and sometimes as scapegoats. The new immigrants hoped that they would be welcomed and see for themselves the "streets paved with gold." Their new lives, however, were difficult. Italians in Louisiana faced prejudice, violence and political exile for their refusal to accept the southern racial mores. Author and historian Alan Gauthreaux" "documents the experience of those Italians who arrived in Louisiana over one hundred years ago..

"Quite possibly the most comprehensive architectural examination of any American city."
-Landscape Architecture Magazine

"The tourist who does not visit at least one of the old cemeteries just a few blocks from the French Quarter misses an inimitable experience in sepulchral urban design."
-St. Louis Post-Dispatch

In New Orleans, cemeteries are known as "cities of the dead." Because the city is located below sea level, buried coffins will not stay underground. As a result, residents bury their dead in above-ground tombs and vaults, forming the "buildings" of these "cities" within the city. New Orleans families, organizations, and benevolent societies build lasting monuments, from the simple to the ornate, to their loved ones. Many of the more lavish monuments are known throughout the city as landmarks. Like all New Orleans architecture, the cemeteries capture the unique character of the Crescent City.

More than twenty-five years have passed since the publication of the first volume of the New Orleans Architecture series. Pelican and the Friends of the Cabildo remain committed to recording and preserving the unique architecture of New Orleans, having published a total of eight volumes on the subject.

The New Orleans Architecture Series consists of Volume I: The Lower Garden District ; Volume II: The American Sector; Volume III: The Cemeteries; Volume IV: The Creole Faubourgs; Volume V: The Esplanade Ridge; Volume VI: Faubourg Treme and the Bayou Road; Volume VII: Jefferson City; and Volume VIII: The University Section, all available from Pelican.

In this captivating collection of vintage images, the history of navigation on the Red River unfolds.

Known by the French settlers of the eighteenth century as the Fleuve Rouge, the Red River boasts a fascinating history in Louisiana. It is the state's historic highway along which plantations were built, and upon which their wares went to the great markets of New Orleans and the rest of the world. Flowing some 1,300 miles through four states, the Red River is the eighth-longest river in the continental United States. Despite numerous disasters, regular navigation occurred on the river for over a century. Huge craft loaded with North Louisiana cotton plied the river between Shreveport and New Orleans, and packet steamers carried mail and passengers to dozens of stops along the river's path. The showboats traveling along the river brought a new form of entertainment to the cities and towns that lined its banks. Included in this volume are views spanning the Great Raft, the opening of the river to navigation and commerce, the role the river played in the Civil War, and the twilight of commercial steam navigation. The first photographic tribute to the river ever published, Red River Steamboats captures a bygone era in Louisiana's history.

Discover Baton Rouge's bygone days of booming growth and the influence of its renowned residents.

For nearly two centuries, Baton Rouge remained a sleepy little river town. Situated on the first bluffs of the Mississippi River north of the Gulf of Mexico, it was prime real estate for habitation. Images of America: Forgotten Baton Rouge collects a plethora of lost images of this city's greatest period of expansion: from the 1890s to the 1930s. This era began when Louisiana State University moved to the grounds of the old US Army arsenal, followed by a corporate decision from John D. Rockefeller to build a Standard Oil Company refinery at Baton Rouge. These historic decisions, coupled with the forward-thinking actions of bold businessmen and politicians like Robert A. Hart and Huey P. Long, changed the face of the city forever.

This section of Uptown New Orleans gets its name from the various colleges and universities, including Tulane and Loyola, that have existed within its boundaries. The architecture of this area ranges from the Gothic universities to the grand mansions of St. Charles Avenue to the modest shotgun homes and cottages scattered around the perimeter.

Focuses on the Bayou Road, which was lined with the country seats and residences of the city’s earliest settlers.

Mix yourself a Hurricane and see New Orleans through a glass of rum.

Like a drunken Mardi Gras parade, the history of New Orleans lurches from electrifying highs to heart-rending lows. Through it all, good drink was a constant - especially rum. The victory at the Battle of New Orleans was sealed with a barrel of rum, and a half-hearted implementation of Prohibition a century later certainly didn't dampen the city's spirits. From priests making tafia to modern delights like Old New Orleans and Bayou, rum has always been an integral part of the funky, sultry, crazy story of the Crescent City. Longtime historian and writer Mikko Macchione presents a witty and informative history of the city and its love affair with the sweetest of liquors.