Travel writing is not new. Accounts of peoples and places from lands foreign and exotic to one's own go back for millennia. Ancient Greek writers such as Strabo, Herodotus, and Pausanias come to mind, as does the Italian Marco Polo. Whatever limitations and errors these writers may have had in their works, travel writing has persisted as a genre of literary expression.
Travel books and guides exist for almost every conceivable destination and activity. If these books are short on anecdotes and personal experience, they contain considerable information on restaurants, hotels, and attractions. No shortage of these publications exist for popular and (and not so popular) destinations. These books fill a need. By way of a guidebook, the would‐be traveller can visit an exotic place without leaving home. To the actual traveller, guides help plan out his or her daily activities. As the French novelist J.K. Huysmans (n.d.) stated, “… A man can undertake long voyages of exploration sitting in his armchair by the fireside, helping out, if needful, his recalcitrant or sluggish imagination by the perusal of some work descriptive of travels in distant lands…”.
Not content to simply present books emphasizing restaurants, hotels, shopping, and tourist attractions, Globe Pequot Press (www.insiders.com) has released a series of books describing popular US destinations from the point of view of residents (i.e. “insiders”). These books have separate chapters on neighbourhoods and real estate, retirement, wellness and health care, education, worship, festivals and annual events, the arts, media, spectator sports, activities for kids, and other topics. With this series, the publisher has released books on cities and destinations as diverse as Cincinnati, Santa Barbara, Salt Lake City, American Civil War sites, the Grand Canyon, Nashville, Memphis, Branson, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Washington, DC, and Atlanta. That these books have gone through numerous printings and editions is a testament to their popular acceptance, and to their high quality of research and writing. The edition related to New Orleans is no exception.
Old compared to other cities in the US, New Orleans founding date is 1718. New Orleans is a popular and (especially for American travellers) exotic destination. Historians Wilds et al. (1996) write that, “New Orleans makes a living in the past”. They also note that the city is “steeped in nostalgia, historical significance, and a European ambiance”. Of course, not all visitors come to New Orleans for such lofty reasons. Drunken revelry on Bourbon Street, the Mardi Gras, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (www.nojazzfest.com), and (more recently) casino gambling exert a strong attraction for students, the middle aged, conventioneers, and the curious. Another writer (Applebone, 1997) describes New Orleans as being “the Cajun Mediterranean insane asylum”. Because of its mix of cultures, ethnic groups (e.g. French, Cajun, Spanish, West African, German, Cuban, Irish, Italian, Isleño, Lebanese, and recently Vietnamese), food, and sources of entertainment, New Orleans has numerous nicknames.
New Orleans writer Steve Ingersoll (n.d.) has noted that these nicknames include the Crescent City, the Queen City of the Inland Sea, America's Most Interesting City, the City That Care Forgot, and the Paris of America. More recently, people have described New Orleans as the Big Easy, and the Birthplace of Jazz. Because of its hot, humid summers, Ingersoll adds that some recent New Orleans t‐shirts had the wording, “the City that Air Forgot”.
There is an abundance of travel guides on the market for New Orleans, describing restaurants, bars, hotels, shopping, and local attractions. While it is true that locals partake of delights such as Mardi Gras and Bourbon Street, the city and its surrounding areas have much to offer visitors and potential residents. The metropolitan area of New Orleans is the home to 1.3 million people. Among its numerous attributes, New Orleans, a major port city, has art galleries and museums, historic architecture, various performing arts organizations and music ensembles (including a professional opera company and a professional symphony orchestra), colleges and universities, a movie studio, and professional sports teams.
Authors Retz and Gaffney are residents of New Orleans, and both write for the Times Picayune (http://www.nola.com/t‐p/), the local daily newspaper. Having much enthusiasm for their subject, they include much information for the tourist, but the authors go beyond compiling the average travel guide. Well known for its food, New Orleans has many restaurants, and the book contains a 50‐page chapter describing restaurants. Familiar haute cuisine establishments all receive lengthy descriptions. The authors include entries for informal restaurants, which serve more modest (but still very tasty) meals. Similarly, the book has lengthy chapters on shopping, hotels, and bed and breakfast establishments. Of course, there is a chapter describing the history of the area.
In all, and including the preface, the book contains 24 chapters. Like the other Insiders’ Guides, this book contains chapters for casual travellers and for persons considering New Orleans as a future home. Consequently, the authors include both chapters and information on typical tourist fare (e.g. Mardi Gras, festivals, historic buildings, nightlife, and the French Quarter) and on items of interest to residents (e.g. schools, universities, health care facilities, real estate and realtors, and retirement). Being a practical book, the writing style is informal and at times almost conversational in tone. Some users may find it too informal. It is clear that the authors have written the book for North American readers. The authors sometimes make puns on clichés and familiar phrases. In describing the restaurant scene, they describe dining in New Orleans as an “embarrassment of dishes”. Later they state that the annual Greek Festival (www.greekfestnola.com) “may be your cup of ouzo. Just phyllo the crowds”.
No travel guide can ever be truly complete, and this guide has its omissions. The section on education lists only the New Orleans public schools and selected private schools, but it omits public schools in the surrounding parishes. (In Louisiana, parish is synonymous with county). While the guide has an entry on the Historic New Orleans Collection (www.hnoc.org/) and its reading room, the guide does not mention the New Orleans Public Library (www.nutrias.org), which houses the New Orleans City Archives (http://nutrias.org/∼nopl/info/louinfo/louinfo.htm). Although the book concludes with a chapter on religions and houses of worship in New Orleans, the chapter has only two pages. These are small points, and they should not deter the potential user of the book. Clearly, the authors and editors have made these omissions, so as to avoid having an overly large and unwieldy book.
The Insiders Guide to New Orleans is not a scholarly work. It contains neither footnotes, nor a bibliography, but the index is very helpful. Being a resident of the New Orleans area for over thirty years, it is obvious to me that the authors have done considerable research. Even as a long time resident, I find that this book very informative.
This guide will be a welcome and valuable addition to public libraries catering to persons travelling for pleasure and/or business.
