A River and Its City: The Nature of Landscape in New Orleans / Edition 1

by Ari Kelman

Overview

This engaging environmental history explores the rise, fall, and rebirth of one of the nation's most important urban public landscapes, and more significantly, the role public spaces play in shaping people's relationships with the natural world. Ari Kelman focuses on the battles fought over New Orleans's waterfront, examining the link between a river and its city and tracking the conflict between public and private control of the river. He describes the impact of floods, disease, and changing technologies on New Orleans's interactions with the Mississippi. Considering how the city grew distant—culturally and spatially—from the river, this book argues that urban areas provide a rich source for understanding people's connections with nature, and in turn, nature's impact on human history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520234338
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	05/01/2006
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	1540L (what's this?)

About the Author

Ari Kelman is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Davis.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Prologue: Nature’s Highway to Market

1. A Batture Laid Out for the Particular Use of the Public
2. Human Genius, Organed with Machinery
3. The Necropolis of the South
4. Triumphs in the Cause of Advancement and Progress
5. An Act of God

Epilogue: The Simple Needs of Automobiles
Notes
Works Cited
Index

Editorial Reviews

In a post-Katrina article, the author of this book called attention to New Orleans' blessing and curse: This Mississippi River port has a near-perfect location but almost unimaginably bad real estate. A River and Its City, Kelman's classic 2003 study, stands as an extended response to everybody's post-hurricane question: Why did they build a city there? With compelling clarity and convincing erudition, Kelman documents the development of America's most improbable metropolis, explaining how nature has affected the city's history.