* I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book. *

Jason Berry's history of New Orleans covers a period of more than three hundred years, from the city's founding through to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Berry's approach is to devote each chapter to a notable New Orleans citizen and, by telling their stories and those of their times, give an overview of the complicated threads of New Orleans's development. Invaders, pirates, slaves, Spanish and French colonists, creoles, native Americans, politicians, religious leaders, musicians and artists are profiled by Berry. In the process he takes us through the city's founding, the colonial era, the Louisiana Purchase, the Civil War, the emergence of jazz and the Mardi Gras tradition right up to the present day destruction of the city in the hurricane, and its subsequent rebirth.

Berry manages to capture what makes New Orleans unique: a blend of French, Spanish, African and Native American influences that gave rise to cultural innovations that have conquered the world, as have some of its foremost artists and musicians. Berry's optimism about the city's resurgence suggests that he believes that this culture will once again triumph. ( )