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The West Bank of Greater New Orleans: A Historical Geography
The West Bank has been a vital part of greater New Orleans since the city's inception, serving as its breadbasket, foundry, shipbuilder, railroad terminal, train manufacturer, and even livestock hub. At one time it was the Gulf South's St. Louis, boasting a diversified industrial sector as well as a riverine, mercantilist, and agricultural economy. Today the mostly suburban West Bank is proud but not pretentious, pleasant if not prominent, and a distinct, affordable alternative to the more famous neighborhoods of the East Bank.
Richard Campanella is the first to examine the West Bank holistically, as a legitimate subregion with its own story to tell. No other part of greater New Orleans has more diverse yet deeply rooted populations: folks who speak in local accents, who exhibit longstanding cultural traits, and, in some cases, who maintain family ownership of lands held since antebellum times--even as immigrants settle here in growing numbers. Campanella demonstrates that West Bankers have had great agency in their own place--making, and he challenges the notion that their story is subsidiary to a more important narrative across the river.
The West Bank of Greater New Orleans is not a traditional history, nor a cultural history, but rather a historical geography, a spatial explanation of how the West Bank's landscape formed: its terrain, environment, land use, jurisdictions, waterways, industries, infrastructure, neighborhoods, and settlement patterns, past and present. The book explores the drivers, conditions, and power structures behind those landscape transformations, using custom maps, aerial images, photographic montages, and a detailed historical timeline to help tell that complex geographical story. As Campanella shows, there is no "greater New Orleans" without its cross--river component. The West Bank is an essential part of this remarkable metropolis.--John M. Barry, author of Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America
Richard Campanella is the first to examine the West Bank holistically, as a legitimate subregion with its own story to tell. No other part of greater New Orleans has more diverse yet deeply rooted populations: folks who speak in local accents, who exhibit longstanding cultural traits, and, in some cases, who maintain family ownership of lands held since antebellum times--even as immigrants settle here in growing numbers. Campanella demonstrates that West Bankers have had great agency in their own place--making, and he challenges the notion that their story is subsidiary to a more important narrative across the river.
The West Bank of Greater New Orleans is not a traditional history, nor a cultural history, but rather a historical geography, a spatial explanation of how the West Bank's landscape formed: its terrain, environment, land use, jurisdictions, waterways, industries, infrastructure, neighborhoods, and settlement patterns, past and present. The book explores the drivers, conditions, and power structures behind those landscape transformations, using custom maps, aerial images, photographic montages, and a detailed historical timeline to help tell that complex geographical story. As Campanella shows, there is no "greater New Orleans" without its cross--river component. The West Bank is an essential part of this remarkable metropolis.--John M. Barry, author of Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America
- GenresGeography
448 pages, Hardcover
Published May 6, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 15, 2021
The world abounds in West Banks. Just about every city has one—not literally or nominally, of course, but phenomenologically. They have to, because the working families and gritty industries that keep cities running have to be somewhere, and they’ve been pushed out of the historic center by bistros and boutiques. The West Banks of the world are separate yet near their urban cores, apart yet convenient, a spacious counterpart to inner-city crowding and costs. Historically, this made them attractive for land uses like truck farms and manufacturing, and for the folks who worked those jobs, a place in which to reside and raise their families.
Richard Campanella’s The West Bank of Greater New Orleans: A Historical Geography provides a vivid description and analysis of an area which, for the most part, is a largely ignored or forgotten component of New Orleans. Until the 20th century, there wasn’t a single bridge connecting these two banks—and history and development diverged for over two centuries. The East Bank became crowded and wealthy; the West Bank, until the 20th century, retained a rural, industrial existence. Companella argues the relationship between the two banks is often parasitical, with East Bank power and wealth having priority over West Bank concerns.
Though his prose is inundated with multi-syllabic academic jargon—cadastral, autarkic, entrepot, “their interfaces being more like a painter’s sfumato than a bureaucrat’s line”—Companella weaves a fascinating story about the West Bank, describing how geographical, political, and cultural forces shape the area into its current state today. It is fascinating. Companella’s ability to educate as well as engage me about a territory of which I knew next to nothing, beyond a few towns and a tunnel, is a rare gift for a scholar. His research and organization make this academic treatise enjoyable.
I plan to read more of Companella’s studies of New Orleans soon. He’s a great scholar with a great wealth of information about a great city.
Richard Campanella’s The West Bank of Greater New Orleans: A Historical Geography provides a vivid description and analysis of an area which, for the most part, is a largely ignored or forgotten component of New Orleans. Until the 20th century, there wasn’t a single bridge connecting these two banks—and history and development diverged for over two centuries. The East Bank became crowded and wealthy; the West Bank, until the 20th century, retained a rural, industrial existence. Companella argues the relationship between the two banks is often parasitical, with East Bank power and wealth having priority over West Bank concerns.
Though his prose is inundated with multi-syllabic academic jargon—cadastral, autarkic, entrepot, “their interfaces being more like a painter’s sfumato than a bureaucrat’s line”—Companella weaves a fascinating story about the West Bank, describing how geographical, political, and cultural forces shape the area into its current state today. It is fascinating. Companella’s ability to educate as well as engage me about a territory of which I knew next to nothing, beyond a few towns and a tunnel, is a rare gift for a scholar. His research and organization make this academic treatise enjoyable.
I plan to read more of Companella’s studies of New Orleans soon. He’s a great scholar with a great wealth of information about a great city.
July 25, 2023
The West Bank of Greater New Orleans: A Historical Geography by Richard Campanella
Campanella has always been a contrarian, taking a look at regions and aspects of New Orleans that are under-discussed and often at the expense of more traditionally popular areas. He has done each with a good natured attitude, lively prose, and strict empiricism that makes him both popular and scholarly. This book is a bit different though. The prose is often dry and even technical. Much of the book is about land and economic development. That said, it is well written overall, at times very funny, superbly researched, insightful, and you can tell Campanella has a deep interest in the area. I am from the West Bank so it was great to read about its past, including things I lived through such as Juan, Katrina, and the "Terrytown not Gretna" campaign. One thing that is great here is that he does not contradict himself, something that weakened the otherwise excellent Bourbon Street.
Campanella has always been a contrarian, taking a look at regions and aspects of New Orleans that are under-discussed and often at the expense of more traditionally popular areas. He has done each with a good natured attitude, lively prose, and strict empiricism that makes him both popular and scholarly. This book is a bit different though. The prose is often dry and even technical. Much of the book is about land and economic development. That said, it is well written overall, at times very funny, superbly researched, insightful, and you can tell Campanella has a deep interest in the area. I am from the West Bank so it was great to read about its past, including things I lived through such as Juan, Katrina, and the "Terrytown not Gretna" campaign. One thing that is great here is that he does not contradict himself, something that weakened the otherwise excellent Bourbon Street.
August 22, 2021
I moved away from the West Bank in 1997, but this book has me itching to visit again soon. So many time, I set the book aside to pull up Google satellite view and visualize the areas Me. Campanella references. Fascinating history; highly recommend for those who want to know more about the Best Bank!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews