Restocking the reading list, focusing on New Orleans economic development.
Repose, Fuel Cafe, New Orleans, Louisiana
Sloane and Carl started this, whether they know it or not. After their rave reviews of Why New Orleans Matters, reading it wasn’t an option but a requirement, a part of my introduction to New Orleans.
After it sat on my nightstand (um, floor) for a week, I read it straight through the other night, the first time I’ve been able to sit and devour a book in a long time. *Amazing*.
I would love to try to read a book a week like Julien; it’s the kind of investment I made throughout my youth but have failed to contribute to recently, kinda like the neglected retirement account at the bottom of the statement I don’t pay enough attention to.
Even if a book a week isn’t going to happen, there’s still a big investment opportunity here. So, what should I read? As a green New Orleans resident, obviously, I should be reading about New Orleans. And as a business and (lapsed) history geek, obviously I should be reading about local business and economic development history.
And so I asked friends for suggestions: David recommended anything by Richard Campanella and pointed to the lists by Pelican Publishing and LSU Press as good resources for more books. Townsend added Rising Tide to the mix (and Jessica even says she’ll lend me a copy). And then Susan helps with some killer specific recommendations: New Orleans: The Making of an Urban Landscape by Pierce Lewis, An Unnatural Metropolis: Wresting New Orleans from Nature by Craig Colten, and Geographies of New Orleans: Urban Fabrics Before the Storm and Time and Place in New Orleans: Past Geographies in the Present Day by Richard Campanella.
Adding to the mix, even though Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans by Dan Baum isn’t exactly on the same topic, it looks rocking in its own way. I’m looking forward to reading it, soon.
Any more suggestions?
Or perhaps: bookclub, anyone? No book reports, no formal summaries, just good reads, good minds and good times?
Update: Adding to the list, Andrew suggested New Orleans after the Promises: Poverty, Citizenship, and the Search for the Great Society by Kent B. Germany.
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