Why New Orleans Matters

A microcosm of the American “melting pot,” New Orleans is home to French, Spanish, Creole, African, and many other cultural influences. No heaven on earth, it is riddled with poverty, racism and injustice. But it is also a city like no other; the birthplace of jazz, source of spectacular cuisine, and one of the country’s largest ports.


In the immediate wake of Hurricane Katrina, there was some question as to whether or not the devastated city of New Orleans should be rebuilt. Award-winning novelist and cultural critic Tom Piazza is a longtime resident of the Crescent City, and Why New Orleans Matters is his impassioned defense of this unique town.

On its publication, Why New Orleans Matters became an instant classic. Now featuring an extensive afterword that updates the reader on progress made since Katrina, this book is a gift from one of our most talented writers to the city he calls home — and to the nation on which that city’s survival depends.

Tom Piazza is an award-winning writer of both fiction and nonfiction. His books include the Faulkner Society Award-winning novel My Cold War, and Blues and Trouble: Twelve Stories, a widely acclaimed story collection that won the James Michener Award for Fiction. He also won a Grammy Award for Album Notes for Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: A Musical Journey. Piazza’s writing on music has also appeared frequently in the New York Times, the Atlantic Monthly, and Oxford American, where he was the Southern Music columnist for several years.

“Hot and real and from the heart ... An emotionally wrenching experience - at times hilarious, at times heartbreaking.” — New Orleans Times-Picayune