University of Virginia Press New Orleans: The Making of an Urban Landscape

Product Description By weaving in a single narrative the city's siting, geography, spatial qualities, culture, economy, society, and tragedy, it affords us an exceptional insight into the city as it is today, and remains a passionate journey through one of our nation's most fascinating places.""--from Karen Kingsley's foreword.In his now classic work of historical geography, originally published in 1976, Lewis traces the rise and expansion of New Orleans through four major historical periods. Newly reissued by the University of Virginia Press, this second edition offers a revised and greatly expanded look at this unique community on the Mississippi Delta?""a fearsome place, difficult enough for building houses, lunacy for wharves and skyscrapers""?with a new foreword that situates Lewis’s work post-Katrina, and argues that it remains as insightful and compelling today as it was before the hurricane made landfall in August 2005. Review [Lewis considers] the ways in which the world is invading New Orleans, leaving it susceptible to suburban sprawl, racial segregation, and the erosion of its identity--threats facing almost every American city, but especialy New Orleans... [H]is fluid analysis of the political, economic, and industrial forces that shape a city provides a useful foundation for historians studying the South's cultural landscape. --Winterthur Portfolio About the Author Peirce F. Lewis is Professor Emeritus at Pennsylvania State University and the author of Axioms for Reading the American Landscape.Karen Kingsley is Professor Emerita of Architecture at Tulane University and the author of Buildings of Louisiana .