New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, head of the French Mississippi Company. A warrior with snake tattoos, Bienville is the just the first of many colorful, feisty, and creative characters—from priests and agents of the Inquisition to visionary street artists—who have made the city the icon of vitality and resilience it has become over the course of its three hundred years. In this comprehensive history, Berry, an investigative journalist, documentary film producer, and author of books including Up From the Cradle of Jazz, chronicles New Orleans through the various lenses of its music, politics, and people. And it’s especially rich where these converge, as when the book spotlights the 2015 jazz funeral of the composer Allan Toussaint which was presided over by Mayor Mitch Landrieu and coincided with the debate over removing Confederate statues.
