New Orleans City Guide

The classic Federal Writers' Project guide to New Orleans history, folklore, and streets. Written in 1938 under the direction of novelist and historian Lyle Saxon, this New Orleans guide was produced by the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). A detailed portrait of the city, it gathers local history, folklore, photographs, and traditional recipes into a single volume. Alongside the city's background and history, the guide covers Creole cuisine, Mardi Gras and Carnival, architecture, the cemeteries, and the customs of everyday New Orleans life. It also lays out walking tours of the neighborhoods, including the French Quarter, mapped street by street. Many of the New Orleans sites and attractions the WPA writers documented in 1938 are still standing today, and the neighborhood tours remain remarkably accurate, making the guide both a record of the city's past and a companion for exploring it now. Rather than a simple scan of the original pages, this edition has been completely reset in type, with the original photographs located and restored to their places. It also includes a contemporary essay by historian Lawrence N. Powell, placing the guide and its WPA origins in historical context.