Louisiana Books

This book is an absolutely astonishing achievement, and is most highly placed among my favorite books of any genre. Most readers will find this to be the finest book on the many historic buildings of the French Quarter, and for many reasons. First, the writing is superbly clear. One need not be an architectural engineer to understand the many fine points covered; believe me, with Mr. Vogt's writing, even we amateurs pick it up easily. One also need not be an historian to comprehend the intricate and detailed timelines involved; these are seamlessly integrated into the writing so that one learns the history naturally, as a matter of course, and a great many historical characters come vividly to life for our reading pleasure. Yes, the buildings described of are built of brick and plaster and colombage and other stuff, but to Mr. Vogt, they are also built from a heady infusion of cultures from many continents converging on a place called New Orleans to create an spicy mix of styles and traditions. In other words, to Mr. Vogt these glorious buildings, some now more than two centuries old, are not inanimate objects, but very, very much alive. Second, the outstanding pen and ink drawings are invitingly warm, showing these appealing buildings in a classic way that blends remarkably well with the written text. I've often found myself pleasantly studying one of the drawings (or perhaps just daydreaming) for several minutes at a time before resuming my reading. When first flipping through the pages of the book, one might be inclined to say that line drawings usually look pretty similar, but I would suggest there is considerable variety in Mr. Vogt's work. Artists should find his approach particularly interesting, with some subjects shown at night rather than in bright daylight, others after a rain, and so on. Take a closer look, and appreciate the artistry unique to each and every drawing.

I have now read this book several times (something I never expected to do when I first bought it), and each time find myself so deeply immersed in pictures and words it's as though I'm living altogether in another time and place. The book is that coherent, that illuminating, that much of a pleasure to enjoy. For anyone who thinks they might even be slightly interested in this subject, this is likely just the volume for you.

Mr. Vogt focused his work on the greatest American city of New Orleans, and that was surely enough to keep him happy for a lifetime. Would that he had had more time to complement this work with another on the early architecture of, for instance, whatever might remain in Biloxi, Martinique, Haiti, Cuba, and other antecedents and contemporaries of New Orleans as it was growing up. In the present volume, he gave us just enough to tease us. Perhaps a bright, enterprising scholar of architecture will be able to follow up some day; that would surely honor Mr. Vogt's lifetime achievements.

"Historic Buildings of the French Quarter" is highly recommended without the slightest hesitation to anyone who enjoys a truly fine book.

This book, as other reviewers have said, is about the architecture of the Quarter and the history that drove its trends and changes. It is an excellent book if you are interested in architectural details and some floor plans in historic buildings of the Quarter as well as typical buildings that would have been built there. If you want to learn about types of buildings in the Quarter, why the Quarter developed as it did and see line drawings of specific historic buildings, then this is your book.

If you want a glitzty photo book showing interior design of said buildings, this is NOT the book for you (thank God, like we need more of that!).

It is my hope that Lloyd Vogt branches out and produces a similar book in other areas with a distinct architectural heritage as it appears to me that most books that address this topic are of the interior design eye-candy type.

The New Orleans' historic French Quarter was founded in 1718 by the French, moved to Spanish control, and was home to generations of occupants who built grand ballrooms, courtyards, and Spanish structures. Historic Buildings Of The French Quarter uses black and white line drawings to blend history with architectural insights, illustrating building types and styles of different eras and profiling some sixty representative buildings. Students of either regional history or architectural history will find it revealing.

Founded by the French, developed by the Spanish and the West Indian Creoles, finally acquired by the United States, le Vieux Carre, the French Quarter, is sixty-six square blocks of solid history spread over nearly three centuries. Despite several desvastating fires, a surprising amount of early architectural history remains, and this lush volume of pen-and-ink drawings of buildings and floorplans is notable as both history and art. An introductory section describes the sources and development of vernacular architecture in south Louisiana, the roles of wrought iron, brackets on shotgun houses, and the courtyard plan, and the influence of each succeeding cultural overlay. Then, arranged into chronological chapters, Vogt describes in some detail more than forty structures and locations, both public, like Jackson Square (originally la Place d'Armes) and the U.S. Mint (erected in 1838 on the site of Fort San Carlos), to private dwellings, including the Peyroux House (built c.1780), the Bosque House (1795), and the La Rionda-Correjolles House (c.1810)-- with a full discussion of generic building types and styles for each period. How many visitors to the Quarter are aware that Pat O'Brien?s inhabits what was once the townhouse of planter John Garner, or that Preservation Hall was the home of Madame Fanchon, a free woman of color, from 1817 to 1866, or that the Le Carpentier House on Chartres was not only the home of novelist Frances Parkinson Keyes and the birthplace of Paul Morphy but also the site of a series of murders by the Italian "Black Hand"? A glossary and selected bibliography will also be useful to the student, though an index would have been very handy as well. The author is well known among students of New Orleans architecture; his _New Orleans Houses: A House-Watcher's Guide_, now in its fifth printing, has become the standard reference.

This collection is always startling, intensely amusing, and all-around wonderful. When my husband saw me doubling over with laughter and then heard me say, "Okay, listen to this," he knew I was going to read him a poem from _The House of Blue Light_. David Kirby deserves a wide, WIDE audience. I intend to order additional copies of this book for friends. Do yourself a favor and order a copy for yourself today.

I came to Kirby from the 2001 issue of BAP which included one of the poems from this book. Long lines, similar to whitman, ginsberg, or Campbell McGrath, very anecdotal in nature, funny, and insightful. My favorite poems in this were James Dickey's Dream, Tige Watley's Whoah, and My dead dad, but every poem is amazing. It's a quick read, very accessible, and after each poem you sit back and just think, wow. Kirby's one of my three favorite poets now, with McGrath, and at the opposite end of the spectrum, Kay Ryan.

I realized how much I liked this book when I found myself reading aloud poem after poem to my roomate, a psychology major, and her boyfriend, a physics major. I promised after each poem that it would surely be my last one. Then I'd come across a poem that contained an "Ah Oui Girl" or Roman Polanski and I'd be reading again despite that I had a sore throught and coughed every five lines. I brutally killed each poem, but when I finally put the book down, my roomate remarked that I should "leave the book lying around" so she can "read it sometime." I think what draws the reader into Kirby's poems is an interesting voice and humor, but what keeps the reader lingering is an unexpected twist, an unseen destination that brings the poem together, that makes the reader scratch his head and expel an 'aaaaah hmm.'

Refreshing to the era, David Kirby presents a narrative-reminiscent book of poetry that appeals to even those that are verse-shy. He is wonderful, with vivid descriptions and pertinent symolism that is many layers deep. My poetry teacher says that a good poem usually has at least three things going on in it...Kirby exceeds this and stil gives us an understandable and intellectual piece of work. He is an amazing poet, and this book is a must-have for anyone interested in poetry, life, fun, sex, food, travel, people or themselves. Get your hands on this one, and share it with your friends.

by Peggy Fallon, author Ice Cream and Frozen Desserts DK Publishing, 2007
This book travels between my nightstand--where I enjoy Terri's thoughtfully written prose and stories of her colorful family--to my kitchen, where I revel in her detailed recipes for fried chicken, grits, and gumbo. Lots of good food here, and I recommend this book to anyone interested in authentic Cajun cuisine.

Real Cajun style cooking! It has great recipes along with great stories behind the recipes. A must have for the Cajun Style lovers.

Recipes are easy to follow and use ingredients easily found stocked in everyday grocery stores and personal kitchens. An added bonus was the personal angle of the stories about the originators of the recipes. There is gentle humor and good advice on almost every page. Best of all, the several recipes I tried not only looked good, but tasted wonderful. This book is NOT about burning your taste buds with "hot and spicy" but enjoying flavor bursting tastes. The book is everything I hoped for in a Cajun cookbook. I agree with the book reviewers!

The opening wording on the flyleaf of this book expresses a couple of points better than I can. 'When most people think of Cajun cooking, they thing of blackened redfish (or blackened nearly anything else) or, maybe, gumbo.'

No, blackened meats and a bunch of other dishes are the creation of New Orleans chefs preparing foods for the tourists. Note, I'm not saying that I don't like these dishes, they just aren't the kinds of foods that I grew up with in the swamps of South Louisiana.

This book talks about the kinds of things we really ate. We had things like etouffee, shrimp boil, jambalaya. Just like she says. But then I do find a few points with which I disagree.

For instance on page 225 she says that they usually use quick grits, which cook in just a few minutes, rather than stone-ground or old-fashioned grits, which take up to an hour to cook. The stone-ground are delicious, but very difficult to find outside of the South.

Terrible, terrible, sacrilege. Go on the web and you can find lots of places that sell 'real' grits. Just substitute them for her recipies that use grits. Incidentally I highly recommend her Baked Spicy Cheese Grits, page 223. Her recipie is a bit different than mine, I put in a bit of spicy sausage. She puts in eggs. You might also want to try varying the types of cheese you use: blue cheese is good, so is Velveeta. Try this at a pot luck, you'll be surprised at the result.

Try some of her Gumbos.

Try a lot of her recipies, you'll be glad you did.

Reading this book is like having a beautiful dream. Its one of the books I will never move without and I've read it over and over again.

Its a fairy tale but it is also an examination of why we tell fairy tales and the delicate importance of them in our lives.

Are you a recovering someone? In the Dutch Mountains is a spell-binding tale of love lost, redemption, and reconciliation. Cees Nooteboom weaves a story from the view of Tiburon, a Spanish engineer, in the same fashion that he presents his narrative of travels across central Spain in Roads to Santiago. A must read.

In the Dutch Mountains began as a story with the title The Snow Queen. It was intended to be filmed but the film was never made. Based on the Hans Christian Andersen story, it pays homage to Andersen openly.

The Snow Queen is one of Andersen's most remarkable tales; a plea for the precious uniqueness of childhood, an appeal against the premature induction of the child into rationality. Little Kai is stolen by the Snow Queen and kept captive in her castle in the cold and snowy North. His faithful playmate, Gerda goes in search of him and after many adventures and tribulations she arrives, borne on the back of a reindeer, at the Snow Queen's great hall of ice.

Here, she finds Kai, blue with cold, playing an endless solitary game, trying to fit shards of ice together like puzzle pieces. Gerda's warm tears melt the ice around Kai's heart and he is freed from the Snow Queen's spell.

In Nooteboom's version, Kai and Gerda become Kai and Lucia, a beautiful, happy couple who share a life and make a living as illusionists for the theater. In their act, Kai blindfolds Lucia and holds up an object before her, which she then "sees." This couple is of one mind and their serene perfection is continually compared to the reunited halves of a self that, as in the fable of Plato's Symposium, has been split in two.

This happiness and oneness arouses the jealousy of a mysterious femme fatale, who has Kai kidnapped and whisked off to her own castle. There she keeps him in thrall, obliterating his memories of Lucia while subjecting him to her lust. For this coldly beautiful mistress, Kai feels a mixture of both fear and desire.

Near the end of this story the novelist-narrator, who by this point is indistinguishable from Nooteboom, himself, gets entangled in a debate about truth and fiction tinged with shades of Plato, Milan Kundera and Hans Christian Andersen. "Why," asks the narrator, "do I have this irrepressible desire to fictionalize, to tell lies?" "From unhappiness," answers Andersen. "But you are not unhappy enough. That's why you can't bring it off."

This is the most penetrating self-insight in this novel, which, like the rest of Nooteboom's fiction, is as much about its own processes and raisons d'être as it is about the fictitious activities of its characters. Despite contortions of self-reflexiveness that in another writer (Samuel Beckett, for instance) might give rise to agonies of the spirit, Nooteboom and his narrator-atavars seem far too urbane, too cosmopolitan and too much at home in the world to genuinely suffer. This is Nootebooms particular affliction as a writer: perhaps he is just too intelligent, too sophisticated, too cool, to be able to commit himself to the grand illusion of fiction.

At one of its most reflexive levels, Nooteboom's fiction has, of necessity, been about a search for a level of emotion that can be carried over undiminished into literary creativity. In the Dutch Mountains, Andersen's diagnosis turns out to be correct: for all the wit, for all the insight into self and its fictions, for all the elegance of style, there is finally just not enough raw emotion to drive the story forward.

This novel has all traits of Cees Nooteboom's oeuvre - a lot of ideas, concepts and insights compressed in a slim volume, several levels of narrative, exquisite composition, excellent language (kudos also to translator).But some enigmatic quality of story makes its gist elusive and even criptic and any interpretation only relative. It is a fairy tale told by Alfonso Tiburon, a Spanish engineer, so we have at least two levels of narrative: a fairy tale per se and some thoughts of its author concerning literature and life. Both levels are rather uncomplicated apart: retold 'Snow Queen' with addition of Plato's concept of androgynes and some facts of Triburon's life with addition of his literary and philosophical opinions. The mystery appears when you peruse both levels simultaneously, and here Cees Nooteboom is at his best. Tiburon starts his tale with perfect beauty and perfect happiness (a perfect man Kai, a perfect woman Lucia and their perfect love) and promises to finish it with them. The beginning of the fairy tale resembles Andersen's story: Kai is abducted by Snow Queen, Lucia undertakes his quest. But this story 'happened not so very long ago' and the world seriously changed since Andersen's days. Today 'Snow Queen' is just a nickname of mob female bellwether, today perfect people can't keep their innocence and perfection any more. Kai becomes a silent lover of his cool mistress and, at the same time, a chauffeur during gang inroads. All this is at least motivated and justified by his painful eye. Lucia falls a prey to some lecherous wandering preacher and achieves a total blank in his embraces without any intrusion of splinted glass. But a fairy tale has its own laws that differ it from a real life. Some external events but not internal fortitude mend the situation. And now Lucia recommences her search leaving behind her new lover. A feeble ghost of Andersen's courageous heroine, she only dreams of robbers, of reindeer, of a girl with a knife. Happy end is a law of fairy tales: Kai and Lucia reunites again but where are promised perfect beauty and perfect happiness. The happy 'ever after' exists only in words (or in longing) but not in reality. There were love lost and some kind of reconciliation. But there was no real redemption and so there is no real perfection. Is a human being so weak today, is he/she powerless to face the evil of the world? In last chapter Tiburon recalls his childhood, the time when a child sees 'the brave new world' without its shortcomings. And previously, somewhere in the middle of the novel, he told us that the author who writes fairy tales distorts reality. 'It is, after all, possible that distortions may make something clear about form'. Nooteboom's opinion concerning modern world is far from optimistic. But nevertheless he believes that Kai and Lucia can be happy together after their ordeal. But a way to new perfect happiness will not be so short and easy as it was in the fairy tale. A wonderful novel!

i appreciated that the book ordered arrived the day before christmas, even though it was estimated to arrive on the 26th.

I really enjoyed reading this book. You can tell the authors are really passionate about what they do!

From the proprietors of the legendary Commander's Palace in New Orleans, Ti Adelaide Martin and Lally Brennan, comes this fascinating and fun guide to the world of classic cocktails. From Margaritas to Caipirinhas, and from Sazerac to the Sidecar, this handy guide includes all of the secret recipes that you'll need to make your next cocktail party a blast. Don't miss it!

A delightful read as well as useful cocktail recipes. Also, if you love New Orleans, you'll love the many stories that tie the cocktail to the history and allure of the City.

Donna Schaff's Just One Kiss is an entertaining romance novel of a man and a woman who simply don't care for each other in the beginning - but with passing time and new challenges, each finds the courage love again. At different times warm, contradictory, or philosophical, Just One Kiss is a thoughtful, passionate, highly recommended presentation of stubborn personalities and heartfelt sentiment.

Once again Ms. Schaff has done it again. As with her first book "Priceless" everytime I put it down I was drawn back to it. I just had to find out what was going to happen next. I found the non-rushed pace of the "budding romance" refreshing. I mostly enjoyed the author's sense of humor. Although I am not a big reader of romance I most definitely will continue to look for Ms. Schaff's work and am eagerly awaiting her next venture.

Ms. Schaff has done it again! Like her first book, Priceless (which was a RITA finalist for Best First Book), this is one you can't put down. Just One Kiss is wonderful. This author has a magical story-telling ability; she delivers adventure and passion in a superbly paced, emotional tale of two people, each with their own painful secrets. They don't like each other in the beginning; they clash, they try to out-manuever each other, yet they're destined to become lovers. Ms. Schaff creates heart-breaking, memorable characters who play off one another beautifully, with wit and humor and deep emotion. In my opinion, she's one the best historical romance writers in the genre. I can't wait for the next book!

Absolutely fantastic! Ms. Schaff's first book "Priceless" was wonderful, and she has definitely exceeded my expectations in "Just One Kiss"! Ms. Schaff's ability to effectively build tension, anxiety, and excitement culminated in the best historically-based romance novel I have ever read. I finished this book in one day because it is so hard to put down. Now I'm reading it a second time and I am thoroughly enjoying every word. I cannot wait for the next one! Keep writing Ms. Schaff, for you certainly have that talent.

Two years ago today I was in New Orleans, gutting houses for Habitat for Humanity. My son, my brother, his son and I were there for several weeks, and got to see first-hand what the aftermath of Katrina was like. It's similar to childbirth: until you've experienced it first hand, the full impact doesn't really hit you. I had seen the photos and the footage, but as we drove through the 9th Ward on the day we first arrived, I realized NOTHING had prepared me for what I was seeing in front of me, that day, June 18, 2006. It didn't seem as if we were still in America - it was more like being in the aftermath of a war zone in some other country. The wide streets, empty and silent; the school-bus-sized piles of what had been the entire contents of a family's home; the stench that lay over everything (this came from the refrigerators stuffed with food and rotten water: "Katrina Soup", my brother called it). And in the trees that were still upright, if you looked closely, you could see where strands of Mardi Gras beads still hung from people having thrown them up there, in celebration, over a year and a half ago. The book was so brilliant - his photographs bring it all back to me in vivid relief. The one that affected me the most was the one of the shrimp boat sitting at the end of the street. My brother took me to see that same boat the first night we were in New Orleans, and I visited it several times after. And his descriptions - !! The heat, the isolation, the fear, and the adventure of what he was living. God bless his friends and family for saving his e-mails and urging him to publish them. This book is an absolute treasure.

David Spielman's book is both awesome and emotionally jarring. It's as close as one can come to experience Katrina without having been there.

I evacuated, returned to my own Uptown neighborhood eight weeks after the storm... and after just now looking at David's book I'm seeing it all over again. And, I'm seeing things I've never seen (Six Flags under 20+ feet of water). The emails walk you through what it was really like, the photos are reminders of what happened to this American city. All Americans should see these unique photos, this unique perspective, as we continue to try and fathom what happened here. This is the perfect presentation. I don't live in New Orleans anymore for a million reasons... but these photos take me 'home' again, and this is a book you will show your friends for years to come.

Mr. Spielman's approach in presenting the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is excellent. He guides the reader, using photography, to relate the sequences of events in a very clear, realistic and poignant way, especially, on his photograph depicting the sick and the poor waiting for medical services in a cold morning in Audubon Park in December nearly three months after Hurricane Katrina made landfall. showing a Third World situation inside the world's most advanced and richest country. All because of bureaucratic red tape and FEMA inability to handle a catastrophy of such magnitude.

Passing for Who You Really Are

Falsely labeled as a "black" author because of his book of poetry and short stories, CANE (which deals almost exclusively with multiracial people), Toomer fought a life-long battle to be recognized for what he truly was. His theories of a "universal man" beyond racial demarcation makes him an important dissenting voice against the hypodescent status quo.

This is one of the best books I have ever read! Because I am a huge fan of CANE, I had to read this bio of Toomer. It is very detailed, very insightful, and provides a full view of Toomer and his family, leaving it to the reader to make a judgement about The Toomer family and Jean Toomer. I feel Toomer was a genius, and yes he was an egomaniac, but who cares? He was sensitive and spiritual and sexual and hungry for understanding and all those qualities come across in CANE and in this bio. Interestingly enough, his detatchment from blackness makes him more interesting because he forces you to think outside the box. [After all, the Black race is the only one in the US history to be said to hinge on "one drop" which is pretty ridiculous. "One drop" was a tool to keep lightskinned blacks from getting access to the money of their fathers.] I only wish Toomer could have written 1 or 2 more books in the vein of CANE.

This is a great book focusing on a man who had the courage to reject society's efforts to impose a "racial" identity upon him. He steadfastly refused to be labeled "colored" (black) or "white" and considered classification the nemesis of mankind, a reflection of intellectual empty-headedness. A quote from the book: "Thus Toomer propounded the rather unpopular view that the racial issue in America would be resolved only when white America could accept the fact that its racial 'purity' was a myth, that indeed its racial isolation produced blandness and lack of character. On the other hand, racial purity among blacks was just as much a myth and only encouraged defensiveness and unconscious imitation, like that of an adolescent who defines his revolt against his parents by the very values he is trying to renounce. Race, he said, was a fictional construct, of no use for understanding people." We need more people like Jean Toomer today!

The authors make it clear that Toomer rejected the racist ideologies of both 'blackness' and 'whiteness':

"And he had lived among blacks, among whites, among Jews, and in groups organized without racial labels around a shared interest such as literature or psychology, moving freely from any one of these groups to any other. One mark of membership in the 'colored' group, he said, was acceptance of the 'color line' with its attendant expectations; neither his family nor he had ever been so bound. To be in the white group would also imply the exclusion of the other."

It's a great book!

Dennis Covington is a genius. I have read this novel almost three times now and with each new reading I find more layers to the story. Covington weaves a fantasticly strange story with bizzare characters that is very difficult to criticize.

Although the story itself is one we've all read before-- the coming of age of Lucius "Lizard" Sims is so fascinating that it will keep many wanting more to read. There are not enough good things I can say about this novel. It should be required reading in all schools.

I liked this book a lot, but it wasn't at all what I expected. It made me a little uncomfortable because I felt like I was listening in on the authors thoughts. This particularly unnerved me because Dennis Covington was my teacher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. I was lucky to be in his class during the publication of his book Salvation on Sand Mountain. I recommend reading that book too. You may have seen him on DATELINE NBC regarding his "snake handling" Sand Mountain topic. Regarding Lizard, if you're familiar with Birmingham, AL many of the landmarks will be familiar to you. Also, he is a nice man and a dedicated writer. Other books that may be of interest...Vicki Covington (his wife) has written several very good books

When I read this book I was in 6th grade (I'm in 8th now), And this is the only book I can truely look back on and say I could visualize the colorful, inventive characters, And that I truely enjoyed the story and was amazed that such good books truely existed. This is an amazing book, And I highly recommend it to anyone going through a remotely tough time, Because no matter what Lucius Sims always had hope for the better.

Lizard Lizard is Lucius Sims, a boy that is sent to the Leesville School for Retarded Boys probably because of what he looks like. Lizard has no idea who his mother is, the only person he can relate to is Miss Cooley who tells him that his father died the same year that he was born. Soon a man by the name of Callahan but in disguise as Simonetti comes to Lizard claiming that he is his father. When Lizard finally manages to escape the school he meets the rest of Callahan's actors. They head for the north and camp out in the woods at night. This is were Lizard meets two black kids that live in a pump house. Sammy is not a very good host but his sister seems to understand Lizard, so much that she trusts Lizard to sell their most valuable possession, a mysterious silver bowl that is very precious to both Sammy and Rain. Lizard then heads farther north with the actors to perform The Tempest by William Shakespeare. Lizard must somehow get back to Sammy and Rain and try to continue his endless search for his mother... This book, had strong emotions hidden beneath the words of the main characters like Lizard, Callahan or Sally. Even though there might not seem to be anything interesting in a boy trying to get to the woods, the author fills the book with little "goodies" that keep you interested all the way. The work that this author has given to the development of the characters is extraordinary, especially Lizard. If you haven't read this book then read it. It might change the way you think about retarded boys and maybe lizards also.

This is a travel guide for people whose priorities are food, beverage and the social order of eating out. Though centered in New Orleans, it also lists valuable food resources throughout the cajun country of Southern Louisiana. The book is well laid out, features excellent maps and gives the reader a wonderful feel for the local vernacular. Most pages feature great color photographs. Best of all for the traveler afoot, its small size allows you to slip it into a jacket pocket or purse.

Pableaux is my cousin. As I read through my copy, I jumped to the 'Biscuit Torture', 'Keeper of the Nog', and my grandmother's quiet relishing of a homegrown tomato and a 'pinch' of salt. It was like going back in time and savoring it all over again. I'm not writing because he's my cousin, I'm writing because this book is a great read. I have purchased it for nine friends in the Chicago area. It is informative and concise as well. Great job paul...

I have really enjoyed this book and the way it was written. The author gives you history, science, culture, restaurant recommendations, recipes and other local "need to know info" that will be helpful as you mosey around Louisiana looking for good food.

I am originally from south Louisiana and would highly recommend this book to anyone visiting or even to someone living in the state.

This is the travel guide for those whose preferences include food, beverage and the social order of eating with others. No hotel listings or must sees for the ordinary tourist. Though centered in New Orleans, the book also includes valuable food resources throughout the cajun country of Southern Louisiana. Great photos make this a nice souvenir or even a gift for the armchair tourist. It also has great maps and sense of the local vernacular. It's small size makes it easy to stash in a pocket or purse for the traveller afoot.