Feet on the Street: Rambles around New Orleans

In this savory and exuberant travelogue, New Orleans is experienced through the eyes, ears, and taste buds of Roy Blount, Jr. who writes The history around here is so thick you could pop it open with an oyster-knife, and oh, the aroma: fresh-ground coffee, yesterday's fish, spilt beer, sloshed Tabasco, hot pastry, patchouli oil...and hints of some fortuitous compound...mule plop and olive salad? Divided into eight Rambles through different parts of the city, the book covers it all: the architecture, music, romance, historical characters (including Walt Whitman and Chuck Berry) and the food. Each Ramble closes with a lagniappe - an extra treat for the reader such as a riff on Gennifer Flowers or a meditation on naked dancing - that shows us why New Orleans, as Roy sees it, is a city like no other place in America, and yet (or therefore) the cradle of American culture.