Book Club Post: Why New Orleans Matters

Hey guys! I'm a little behind schedule, but I just wanted to post a few thoughts on the final part of our book. Since my last post, I have sensed many personal dilemmas with the book that I feel should be reflected on.

First and foremost I have found that this book has taken on too much of a personal agenda from the author (Tom Piazza). While his personal stories and descriptions of New Orleans were initially enjoyable (as I did not know much about New Orleans), it seems that his personal feelings have overtaken the integrity and credibility of the subject (what makes New Orleans worth rebuilding and caring about since the catastrophe of Katrina) that he set out to write about. So how do you solve this issue? To start, he should have taken into account the personal stories and knowledge of the people of New Orleans, and try to at least be factual at some level instead of making so many generalizations. While he does take notice of the people and the issues in New Orleans, he does not take into account the actual perspectives of the people themselves. He is very general in his analysis, and tends to keep a bias for the poor and against the wealthy of New Orleans.

For example: "The majority of these people are black, and poor. They are the people, and the descendants and families of the people, who gave jazz music to the world, who dance at parades during the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, who play in the marching bands, and who cook food for the members of the marching bands." The example pertains to the people who were moved to the Superdome after the destruction had began in New Orleans. Immediately, he makes the generalization that these people who are the only ones suffering are the poor, and black people. He goes on to create the sense that these people are also the ones who have created a sense of culture and never-ending-happiness that exists in New Orleans. However, this is only one of many examples in which his generalizations and personal feelings give this book less credibility, and more of a "personal guide to New Orleans" feeling.