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The White League
Paul Blanchard's comfortable world is turned upside down when his old fraternity brother, Mark Morvant, threatens to expose the secret that Paul has been harboring for 20 years. He demands that Paul secure for him the backing of a clandestine organization caleld The White League, a group he maintains is the real power in New Orleans. As his well-ordered world begins to collapse around him, Paul struggles with the moral consequences of his own past.
458 pages, Hardcover
First published February 15, 2004
22 people are currently reading
79 people want to read
About the author
Thomas Zigal
18 books7 followersTHOMAS ZIGAL is the author of the critically acclaimed Kurt Muller mystery series set in Aspen, Colorado. He is a graduate of the Stanford Writing Program and has published short stories and book reviews in literary magazines and fiction anthologies for the past 30 years. He grew up on the Texas Gulf Coast and in Louisiana and now lives in Austin, Texas.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
May 8, 2010
RATING: 4.75
PROTAGONIST: Paul Blanchard, coffee magnate
SETTING: New Orleans, Louisiana - 1990s
SERIES: Standalone
New Orleans in the 1990s is a place that still has strong connections to its past. In fact, it is said that there are thirty families who control the city, one of which is the Blanchards, who have built a coffee manufacturing empire. Currently in charge of the family corporation, Paul Blanchard has a comfortable life, living in a fine neighborhood and participating in high society events. Unbeknownst to his family and friends, he is harboring a terrible secret. And if he doesn't find financial support for a white supremacist who is running for governor, that secret will be exposed and Paul will be ruined.
Back in his college days, Paul was involved in a situation where a young girl died. In a panic, he called upon a fraternity brother, Mark Morvant, who helped him cover up the crime. Now Morvant is blackmailing him by asking Paul to go to "The White League" and solicit contributions for his political campaign. Paul has never heard of "The White League" and sets out to find out if such a group exists. He uncovers a long history going back to Civil War Reconstruction in which a group of the city's movers and shakers participate in blatantly racially discriminatory activities. He is shocked to find that members of his family were part of this League. As far as he can tell, the League disappeared in the 1960s—do they indeed continue their nefarious activities to this day?
Several events suggest that they do. His openly gay brother, Perry, was a victim as was one of the local religious leaders. Paul is horrified by what he uncovers, as he is truly a man who believes in equality, a principle that he has demonstrated both in his professional and personal life. But on the other hand, he also has an overriding need to not have his secret exposed, which would result in the loss of his family and their stature in the community. The choice to him seems clear; he must support Morvant, who is against everything he stands for, or risk losing everything and everyone he cares about.
Zigal has done an astonishing job of portraying the long history of racism in past and modern New Orleans. But what makes this book really succeed on every level is the depiction of Paul, and the conflicts that he faces. Essentially a good and principled man, he stands up for his beliefs over and over again. Yet, when it appears that his past misdeed will be uncovered, he acts in the most selfish ways to protect himself.
There's an element of suspense as the book unfolds—will Paul do the right thing or the convenient thing? Just when you're sure that he will do one, he does the other. Is there any possible way out for him? He's a good man who made a big mistake. What can he possibly do to eliminate the threat of Morvant and go past the lie he has been living? And in facing up to that lie, how does he live with the misdeeds that were perpetuated in the name of fealty by his own family?
THE WHITE LEAGUE is a satisfying and complex book, one which forces the reader to look at their own moral choices. In spite of anything that we have ever done, there is a chance to redeem ourselves—but that chance may involve some hard choices and not be easily accomplished. THE WHITE LEAGUE is a thoughtful and thought-provoking book that I highly recommend.
PROTAGONIST: Paul Blanchard, coffee magnate
SETTING: New Orleans, Louisiana - 1990s
SERIES: Standalone
New Orleans in the 1990s is a place that still has strong connections to its past. In fact, it is said that there are thirty families who control the city, one of which is the Blanchards, who have built a coffee manufacturing empire. Currently in charge of the family corporation, Paul Blanchard has a comfortable life, living in a fine neighborhood and participating in high society events. Unbeknownst to his family and friends, he is harboring a terrible secret. And if he doesn't find financial support for a white supremacist who is running for governor, that secret will be exposed and Paul will be ruined.
Back in his college days, Paul was involved in a situation where a young girl died. In a panic, he called upon a fraternity brother, Mark Morvant, who helped him cover up the crime. Now Morvant is blackmailing him by asking Paul to go to "The White League" and solicit contributions for his political campaign. Paul has never heard of "The White League" and sets out to find out if such a group exists. He uncovers a long history going back to Civil War Reconstruction in which a group of the city's movers and shakers participate in blatantly racially discriminatory activities. He is shocked to find that members of his family were part of this League. As far as he can tell, the League disappeared in the 1960s—do they indeed continue their nefarious activities to this day?
Several events suggest that they do. His openly gay brother, Perry, was a victim as was one of the local religious leaders. Paul is horrified by what he uncovers, as he is truly a man who believes in equality, a principle that he has demonstrated both in his professional and personal life. But on the other hand, he also has an overriding need to not have his secret exposed, which would result in the loss of his family and their stature in the community. The choice to him seems clear; he must support Morvant, who is against everything he stands for, or risk losing everything and everyone he cares about.
Zigal has done an astonishing job of portraying the long history of racism in past and modern New Orleans. But what makes this book really succeed on every level is the depiction of Paul, and the conflicts that he faces. Essentially a good and principled man, he stands up for his beliefs over and over again. Yet, when it appears that his past misdeed will be uncovered, he acts in the most selfish ways to protect himself.
There's an element of suspense as the book unfolds—will Paul do the right thing or the convenient thing? Just when you're sure that he will do one, he does the other. Is there any possible way out for him? He's a good man who made a big mistake. What can he possibly do to eliminate the threat of Morvant and go past the lie he has been living? And in facing up to that lie, how does he live with the misdeeds that were perpetuated in the name of fealty by his own family?
THE WHITE LEAGUE is a satisfying and complex book, one which forces the reader to look at their own moral choices. In spite of anything that we have ever done, there is a chance to redeem ourselves—but that chance may involve some hard choices and not be easily accomplished. THE WHITE LEAGUE is a thoughtful and thought-provoking book that I highly recommend.
August 29, 2007
This book was really nothing remarkable, but I thought it was going to be, especially with the subject matter that it was dealing with. It had too many underdeveloped characters, was anti-climactic, and at times a little too message happy. But it wasn't totally lacking in being an entertaining read and often I did find myself riveted. That pretty much sums it up, but for the sake of the more curious I will elaborate.
Zigal's writing was good and flowed quite nicely, though the timeline didn't. I often found myself asking, "Why isn't this guy at work?" And while he did try his best at fully fledged characters I think he overwhelmed himself by putting too many in there, so most of them only became half developed at best. The only one that achieved three demensional status was our protagonist himself and I think that's only because we had some insight into his inner thoughts and feelings.
My other big problem was with the resolution being too anti-climactic. I expected some sort of bang, not a pathetic fizzling out. If you want to analyze it, I guess you could say that's because most dark political dealings are resolved quietly under the table. You would think, though, to make the book a bit more exciting, Zigal would have had the resolution out in the open in some sort of dramatic affair.
As for my thoughts about the book being too "message happy" at times, that comes from the constant bombardment of "working class blacks: good; uptown rich whites: bad." Don't take that as me being racist, by all means I'm not, but beating your readers over the head with that can get a little old, fast. Especially when your characters don't really do anything to resolve any sort of racist issues until the end. They don't even start! I wouldn't have minded the message as much if we had someone attempting to resolve it all.
Zigal does redeem himself, though, by giving us a nice clean ending. All loose ends are appropriately tied and we know that things work out, which is always a nice thing in a book. The book does get a little dry and boring at times, but the issues and situations we're dealing with throughout the novel will keep you reading. Once you get past the first couple of chapters you'll find the going a little less rough, and the desire to keep reading a little stronger.
Zigal's writing was good and flowed quite nicely, though the timeline didn't. I often found myself asking, "Why isn't this guy at work?" And while he did try his best at fully fledged characters I think he overwhelmed himself by putting too many in there, so most of them only became half developed at best. The only one that achieved three demensional status was our protagonist himself and I think that's only because we had some insight into his inner thoughts and feelings.
My other big problem was with the resolution being too anti-climactic. I expected some sort of bang, not a pathetic fizzling out. If you want to analyze it, I guess you could say that's because most dark political dealings are resolved quietly under the table. You would think, though, to make the book a bit more exciting, Zigal would have had the resolution out in the open in some sort of dramatic affair.
As for my thoughts about the book being too "message happy" at times, that comes from the constant bombardment of "working class blacks: good; uptown rich whites: bad." Don't take that as me being racist, by all means I'm not, but beating your readers over the head with that can get a little old, fast. Especially when your characters don't really do anything to resolve any sort of racist issues until the end. They don't even start! I wouldn't have minded the message as much if we had someone attempting to resolve it all.
Zigal does redeem himself, though, by giving us a nice clean ending. All loose ends are appropriately tied and we know that things work out, which is always a nice thing in a book. The book does get a little dry and boring at times, but the issues and situations we're dealing with throughout the novel will keep you reading. Once you get past the first couple of chapters you'll find the going a little less rough, and the desire to keep reading a little stronger.
April 22, 2020
This book follows racial politics and white supremacy in New Orleans from reconstruction days through the late 20th century. The son of one of the unofficial white ruling class families has a past that haunts him as he tries to break free from his family’s racist roots. I recently read What Passes for Wisdom by C H Lawler. The White League is a great follow up for the Lawler book.
December 29, 2018
Good story, bit dark in places.
March 5, 2013
A slow burner, but once the pace picked up, a highly enjoyable read. I guessed the narrator's 'dark secret' early on but what kept me interested was how the author would produce an ending without the reader feeling cheated by a convenient deus ex machina device. The novel is set in a context of which I know little - New Orleans Uptown society - and against a historical background of which I knew not much beyond "Gone With The Wind" - the far-reaching impact of reconstruction on modern-day Louisiana, which was reason enough to take the book on.
I enjoyed the fact that the narrator was flawed - it's a hard act to pull off to turn a protagonist, who is almost an anti-hero, into someone you still root for. Whilst some of the characters are clearly deeply unpleasant and irredeemable, a vast number are, in fact, neither resolutely good or bad. I liked this psychological realism, since it is these shades of grey that allow you to both empathise with and condemn individuals who remain the products of their time and place, even when that time and place has long gone.
A case in point of this duality are the characters of Wilhelmina Phillips and Mark Morvaunt. One is a black activist pushing for complete desegregation of private members' clubs who is not above using the same favour-for-a-favour machinations of those she opposes or riding roughshod over views she does not agree with; the other is a white supremacist who has superficially recanted his ideology to become more electable. Clearly we are meant to despise him more of the two, but the author allows us a window into the causes of his resentment - his exclusion by the New Orleans power brokers. He is forever as disenfranchised socially on the grounds of birth as the black population she represents, a point made clearly by the narrator, who informs him that high society will support him politically but will never accept him socially. In turn, she does not appreciate the bitter irony that her own Zulu Krewe's cliquery is often no more progressive or pleasant than the equivalent attitudes of the white partisans protecting their traditions. Of course, it is more serious than agreeing who should be invited to the party - the social and the political/financial in New Orleans are deeply entwined and both are enmeshed in the injustices of the past caste system - a caste system operated by both sides.
What I took from this book, apart from an interest in researching more into the history underpinning the social and political mores of the story, were those shades of grey. There are, of course, degrees of villainy and culpability, but there is also something to be said for the difficulty in preserving your moral compass in a milieu where a sense of entitlement, guilt, and hereditary conditioning are common to both sides of the debate. The reader participates in that same balancing act when deciding who is 'good' and who is 'bad' in this morality tale. It made me think.
I enjoyed the fact that the narrator was flawed - it's a hard act to pull off to turn a protagonist, who is almost an anti-hero, into someone you still root for. Whilst some of the characters are clearly deeply unpleasant and irredeemable, a vast number are, in fact, neither resolutely good or bad. I liked this psychological realism, since it is these shades of grey that allow you to both empathise with and condemn individuals who remain the products of their time and place, even when that time and place has long gone.
A case in point of this duality are the characters of Wilhelmina Phillips and Mark Morvaunt. One is a black activist pushing for complete desegregation of private members' clubs who is not above using the same favour-for-a-favour machinations of those she opposes or riding roughshod over views she does not agree with; the other is a white supremacist who has superficially recanted his ideology to become more electable. Clearly we are meant to despise him more of the two, but the author allows us a window into the causes of his resentment - his exclusion by the New Orleans power brokers. He is forever as disenfranchised socially on the grounds of birth as the black population she represents, a point made clearly by the narrator, who informs him that high society will support him politically but will never accept him socially. In turn, she does not appreciate the bitter irony that her own Zulu Krewe's cliquery is often no more progressive or pleasant than the equivalent attitudes of the white partisans protecting their traditions. Of course, it is more serious than agreeing who should be invited to the party - the social and the political/financial in New Orleans are deeply entwined and both are enmeshed in the injustices of the past caste system - a caste system operated by both sides.
What I took from this book, apart from an interest in researching more into the history underpinning the social and political mores of the story, were those shades of grey. There are, of course, degrees of villainy and culpability, but there is also something to be said for the difficulty in preserving your moral compass in a milieu where a sense of entitlement, guilt, and hereditary conditioning are common to both sides of the debate. The reader participates in that same balancing act when deciding who is 'good' and who is 'bad' in this morality tale. It made me think.
June 16, 2012
New Orleans society exposed in an excellent mystery!
The novel is a good, fast read. What I liked most were the historical facts blended so well into Zigal's fiction about the death of a young girl and the possible involvement of 'The White League." The White League, by the way, is a group of men...bigots in their own fashion...but far too sophisticated to be associated with the likes of the Klan. Gentlemen racists, you might say.
The only drawback--and this happens often in books where people have accents of any kind--the author's insistence to write the dialect. Mr. Zigal, we get it...just mention a person is of color, or southern, or Cajan and we can figure it out...no need for "Mistah" etc. *Imagine reading a book about the Kennedys, and having to go though "pawk the caa" over and over.*
I really enjoyed this book. Both for the mystery and the cultural background!! And I learned a LOT about New Orleans history! Good book!
The novel is a good, fast read. What I liked most were the historical facts blended so well into Zigal's fiction about the death of a young girl and the possible involvement of 'The White League." The White League, by the way, is a group of men...bigots in their own fashion...but far too sophisticated to be associated with the likes of the Klan. Gentlemen racists, you might say.
The only drawback--and this happens often in books where people have accents of any kind--the author's insistence to write the dialect. Mr. Zigal, we get it...just mention a person is of color, or southern, or Cajan and we can figure it out...no need for "Mistah" etc. *Imagine reading a book about the Kennedys, and having to go though "pawk the caa" over and over.*
I really enjoyed this book. Both for the mystery and the cultural background!! And I learned a LOT about New Orleans history! Good book!
March 8, 2013
BookList: There’s something very rotten in New Orleans. It’s 1990, and Paul Blanchard, coffee magnate, finds his white-picket-fence world disrupted when an old frat buddy, Mark Morvant, comes to collect on an old favor. Morvant once helped Paul cover up a dirty secret and now needs Paul to bankroll his bid for governor, which has the support of the White League, a white supremacist organization long thought to have been disbanded. Even after having lived for years with the fear of what could happen when Morvant demanded his quid pro quo, Paul is shocked to discover to what degree he and his family are haunted by the past. Zigal presents a taut thriller that will keep readers guessing as he probes the moral dilemmas at the heart of both New Orleans’ checkered past and Paul’s contradictory character. This is a page-turner with a conscience, and it leaves some heady questions in its path. -- MishaStone (BookList, 01-01-2005, p829
April 3, 2016
If you've ever been to New Orleans you will like this book a lot. It made me very uncomfortable at times as it tackles racism in a truly honest way. Where the beauty, history and the gaiety of NO has such a a rotting, stink under neath it, we alternately love and fear it. It's pretty timely read for today where we all have to look for our own weakness to want to preserve the past at the cost of perpetuating undesirable legacies by both colors of skin. As much as I enjoyed the book, there were few characters in it that I liked and I think it took a great deal of subtlety to make the reader want to root for characters you don't like much.
May 22, 2019
Great book. a different series. Our hero is a coffee company CEO by virture of being born into the family. I think it could only be set in New Orleans.
The hero has some definite weaknesses as a human being. You might not like knowing him but somehow Zigal pulls off him as a likeable main character.
The hero has some definite weaknesses as a human being. You might not like knowing him but somehow Zigal pulls off him as a likeable main character.
February 18, 2010
I chose this book because I discovered why doing family research, that my great grandfather participated in an uprising in New Orleans during the Reconstruction Period. Although historical fiction, The White League does an excellent job of reporting this turbulent time period in Louisiana history. Very intriguing
March 3, 2009
I met Thomas Zigal a while back. He was a personable and patient man who put up with my friend's and my barrage of questions about writing books and getting them published. This is his most well-known novel and it's a delight so far.
July 10, 2012
A great weekend read. I would have liked the book to get more inside the heads of those actually in the League and also more character development for all the people in this novel - only one point of view was a bit stifling at times. The New Orleans history is chilling.
January 5, 2014
This is the first of Thomas Zigals books I have read and will defiantly be reading more.A great book, well written , thought provoking . The story line enables you to see discrimination from all sides , and shows how this can be passed on through generations. I recommend this book .
August 16, 2009
hmmm. make you wonder.
September 25, 2012
I really enjoyed this novel. Good story. Believable characters. Goes along at a lick.
The sort of book you feel happy to have chosen if you end up taking it on a journey.
The sort of book you feel happy to have chosen if you end up taking it on a journey.
November 25, 2012
Enjoyed that the historical information was woven into the plot; liked the main character whose weaknesses as a young man controlled much of his adult life. A good read.
July 8, 2013
Southern noir, moral ambiguity, money, race, sex, and family secrets. THe White League started out a little slow, but really kicked in. Lots of good local color
November 4, 2013
An interesting perspective of southern life
June 5, 2014
Great read!!
Don't put it down. The politics and undercurrents are addictive, especially if you live in the South. New Orleans never changes·····
Don't put it down. The politics and undercurrents are addictive, especially if you live in the South. New Orleans never changes·····
March 23, 2016
Wow! Dans ma catégorie "troublant". Et si c'était vrai? Ou en partie?
July 24, 2016
Excellent book
This book was interesting and a good read. It told a lot about New Orleans. Shows how the past never truly leaves us.
This book was interesting and a good read. It told a lot about New Orleans. Shows how the past never truly leaves us.
December 31, 2015
Overwritten and overwrought.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews