This extravagantly illustrated volume from a well-respected New Orleans expert covers such topics as the place of the old-line krewes in the evolution of Mardi Gras, women’s groups, flambeaux, the Carnival foods, and more. Even with its loyalty to tradition, Carnival in New Orleans has changed dramatically since the 1980s. Terms such as Lundi Gras, Muses, Krewe d’Etat, and Orpheus are now part of the lexicon, while krewe names such as Venus, Mecca, and Freret survive only in trivia conversations and historical records. Fascinating and intimate, this book seamlessly intertwines the past with the present. The rich flavors of New Orleans—cultural and culinary—dance on every page of this handsome book.
About the Author
Errol Laborde, the editor of New Orleans Magazine, has won more than twenty-five New Orleans Press Club Awards for outstanding journalism since 1972. A producer and panelist on public television’s Informed Sources, an award-winning program that explores local politics, Laborde is also the founding president and a current board member of the annual Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival. Laborde’s previously works include I Never Danced With an Eggplant (On a Streetcar Before): Chronicles of Life and Adventures in New Orleans, published by Pelican. He lives in New Orleans.
About the Photographer
Mitchel Osborne is a New Orleans native and nationally renowned photographer. His work has taken him to such varied places as the Louisiana swamps, the Pacific Northwest, and the Australian outback. Osborne’s interest in Mardi Gras developed early in life, and he has contributed to three books and a series of calendars on the subject. He resides near the Puget Sound in Washington.
About the Foreword Writer
Peggy Scott Laborde is the producer and host of public television’s Steppin’ Out, which airs in New Orleans. Her professional accomplishments and efforts in conserving the arts and history of New Orleans have earned her numerous awards and praise. Laborde is also the author of Pelican’s Canal Street: New Orleans’ Great Wide Way, Christmas in New Orleans, and Lost Restaurants of New Orleans. She lives in New Orleans.
MARDI GRAS
Chronicles of the New Orleans Carnival
By Errol LaBorde
With Principal Photography by Mitchel L. Osborne
Foreword by Peggy Scott Laborde
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Customs & Traditions
HISTORY / Social History
HISTORY / United States / State & Local / South
208 pp. 8 1/2 x 11
193 color photos 31 b/w photos 15 color illus. 8 b/w illus. Index
ISBN: 9781455617647