A sentimental journey through early TV in 1950s and 1960s New Orleans.

Ten years in the making, Gary Rivlin’s Katrina is “a gem of a book—well-reported, deftly written, tightly focused….a starting point for anyone interested in how The City That Care Forgot develops in its second decade of recovery” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch). On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina made landfall in southeast Louisiana. A decade later, journalist Gary Rivlin traces the storm’s immediate damage, the city of New Orleans’s efforts to rebuild itself, and the storm’s lasting effects not just on the area’s geography and infrastructure—but on the psychic, racial, and social fabric of one of this nation’s great cities. Much of New Orleans still sat under water the first time Gary Rivlin glimpsed the city after Hurricane Katrina as a staff reporter for The New York Times. Four out of every five houses had been flooded. The deluge had drowned almost every power substation and rendered unusable most of the city’s water and sewer system. Six weeks after the storm, the city laid off half its workforce—precisely when so many people were turning to its government for help. Meanwhile, cynics both in and out of the Beltway were questioning the use of taxpayer dollars to rebuild a city that sat mostly below sea level. How could the city possibly come back? “Deeply engrossing, well-written, and packed with revealing stories….Rivlin’s exquisitely detailed narrative captures the anger, fatigue, and ambiguity of life during the recovery, the centrality of race at every step along the way, and the generosity of many from elsewhere in the country” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Katrina tells the stories of New Orleanians of all stripes as they confront the aftermath of one of the great tragedies of our age. This is “one of the must-reads of the season” (The New Orleans Advocate).

Wiseguys called him "the Keith Richards of the American Mafia" and JFK hero Jim Garrison denounced him as "one of the most notorious vice operators in the history of New Orleans" ... but you can just call him MR. NEW ORLEANS. Mr. New Orleans tells the incredible story of Frenchy Brouillette, a redneck Cajun teenager who stole his big brother's motorcycle and embarked on a 60-year vacation to New Orleans, where he became a legendary gangster and the underworld political fixer for his cousin, Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards. Written by Crescent City native Matthew Randazzo V, the wickedly funny Mr. New Orleans is the first book to ever break the code of secrecy of the New Orleans Mafia Family, the oldest and most mysterious criminal secret society in America. "Mr. New Orleans is a rollicking, disturbing ride through the underbelly of a bygone New Orleans, lined with moments of dark, side-splitting hilarity. If you're a fan of James Lee Burke, drop what you're reading and pick this one up. In an era when popular wisdom tells us T.V. has stolen all depth from the literary true-crime narrative, Matthew Randazzo has found a way to beat that trend mightily; he's gone straight to the source and captured the singular, confounding voice of the New Orleans' mafia's top political fixer with fast-paced, riveting prose and a fine journalist's eye for detail." Chris Rice, New York Times Bestselling Author "Mr. New Orleans is a total knockout: Take everything you ever imagined about the sleazy good times to be had in New Orleans -- the sleazy good times capital of America -- and quadruple it, and you have a hint of what's inside these sticky pages." Bill Tonelli, Author of The Italian American Reader and Editor for Esquire and Rolling Stone

From humble beginnings in a physics lab on the campus of Loyola University came the sounds of the first radio station in the lower Mississippi River Valley when WWL Radio signed on in 1922. The little station would grow into a national powerhouse, with its morning Dawnbusters show and nightly broadcasts from the Blue Room of the Roosevelt Hotel. The city's second oldest station, WSMB, with studios in the Maison Blanche Building, developed its own cast of favorites, including "Nut and Jeff." Later, in the city known as the birthplace of jazz, radio played a key role in popularizing early rock and roll. Disc jockeys at leading stations WTIX and WNOE helped develop the Crescent City sound, along with local personalities with colorful names like "Poppa Stoppa," "Jack the Cat," and "Dr. Daddy-O."

Termed 'Hollywood South', New Orleans is the site of a burgeoning cultural economy of film and television production. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, this production plays an important role in the city's rebuilding. Down in Treme: Race, Place, and New Orleans on Television takes the HBO series Treme, filmed on-location in New Orleans, as a case study for exploring relationships between television production and raced and classed geographies in the rebuilding of post-Katrina New Orleans. Treme demonstrates how city efforts to attract film and television production collide with the television industry's desire to create new forms of connection for increasingly distracted audiences through the production of authentic connections to place. Down in Treme explores what is at stake in these collisions for local culture and struggles over the right to neighborhood and city space. By putting post-broadcast television studies, critical race theory, and urban studies into conversation, Down in Treme provides a poignant case study that enjoins scholars to go beyond the text to consider how media industries and production practices intervene into the contemporary media city.

Presents the stories of seven survivors of Hurricane Katrina who tried to evacuate, protect their possessions, and save loved ones before, during, and after the flood.

Hit the gas pedal with your career! Sheba Turk is an anchorwoman like no other. Strong and capable, she forged a path to her successful career with perseverance and hard work. She seized the opportunities given to her and overcame enormous obstacles along the way. In her timely and moving book, Turk shows us that we, too, can smooth that bumpy path using the wisdom earned in the early stages of her own career. She covers topics ranging from mentorship to establishing your own brand. Off Air is perfect for anyone starting out on their own career path, particularly in media journalism or entertainment, or anyone interested in how to overcome their own obstacles, wherever their adventure may begin. A forward by Turk's mentor, Soledad O'Brien brings this journey full circle and adds an extra level of inspiration.

Belton is known for his expertise in creating New Orleans cuisine as well sharing the culture and culinary heritage of the greatest city in the world. Here he offers New Orleans classic dishes, as well as foreign favorites with a little New Orleans twist. -- adapted from Amazon.com info

This scholarly study demonstrates “that while post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans is changing, the vibrant traditions of jazz . . . must continue” (Journal of African American History). An examination of the musical, religious, and political landscape of black New Orleans before and after Hurricane Katrina, this revised edition looks at how these factors play out in a new millennium of global apartheid. Richard Brent Turner explores the history and contemporary significance of second lines—the group of dancers who follow the first procession of church and club members, brass bands, and grand marshals in black New Orleans’s jazz street parades. Here music and religion interplay, and Turner’s study reveals how these identities and traditions from Haiti and West and Central Africa are reinterpreted. He also describes how second line participants create their own social space and become proficient in the arts of political disguise, resistance, and performance.