I really enjoyed this collection, for the most part, but as someone who edited a few anthologies during my time as an editor at Penguin, I had a few quibbles. Overall, I was happy with the range represented here--particularly happy to see an excerpt from Louis Armstrong's fantastic autobiography here, as well as Ellen Gilchrist, who is a revelation. I also loved the historical documents included as well.

On the other hand, there were some pretty embarrassing copyediting errors that I guarantee were not in the original books (including one in the Confederacy of Dunces excerpt and the Robert Penn Warren excerpt). The other aspect I found a bit off-putting was the pervasiveness of the n-word in the selections here. Example: the excerpt from Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men begins with, in my opinion, a rather purple description of the highway leading into Mason City. Embedded in that description is some rather embarrassing and, frankly, poorly written descriptions of black sharecroppers, including and complete with an attempt at dialect. Yes, this was the late forties. I'm not going to rail against RPW for writing this way. But I do think that the editor here, John Miller, could have used a bit of discretion. Including this excerpt from RPW was marginal--Mason City is not New Orleans, and the entire excerpt takes place there. But also, it's not really underscoring anything, which is what I'd imagine including this description might do, and as it does in other pieces in the book, especially Gilchrist's devastating "Rich." And having never read Anne Rice, I am glad to know that I should continue to avoid her work. Argh. Oh, and Carl Sandburg's description of Lincoln's trip down the Mississippi was a kick in the pants to read his biography of Lincoln. ( )

What a mixed bag of stories one can find in this book. Some I loved, some I didn't so much. Some were a little strange, especially some of those cures. But that's ok. This is not necessarily a book of stories about New Orleans. It is however a gathering of stories by people who either were from New Orleans, or lived in New Orleans at some point. It is an illustration of how this most decadent city can tug at your soul. Most of the stories are short and can be read in one sitting. Authors include such greats as William Faulkner, Anne Rice, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, and even Louis Armstrong. Although you might not like all of these stories, I think you might find one or two that catch your interest. For me, it's all about New Orleans, and that made reading it worthwhile. ( )