Arcadia Bestsellers

Lloyd Vogt, an award-winning New Orleans architect, offers young people a fascinating glimpse into the history of New Orleans architecture. Dividing his discussion into two parts--house types and house styles--he provides a basic yet comprehensive first course in New Orleans building design in a language designed for easy understanding. Also provided are labeled drawings for style identification, and a complete glossary.

Let the good times roll down in New Orleans! Read the secrets and origins of the beloved Mardi Gras.

New Orleans practically owns Mardi Gras, and you would be hard-pressed to find someone who would deny it. The wild celebration brings thousands of tourists to Louisiana each year, but none of it would be possible without the carnival krewes. The backbone of this Big Easy tradition, different krewes put on extravagant paries and celebrations to commemorate the beginning of the Lenten season. Historic krewes such as Comus, Rex, and Zulu date back generations and have become part of New Orleans' greater history, but today, what was once an exclusive position has widened their reach and new krewes are inaugurated regularly to enrich the flavor of Louisiana's cultural melting pot. Through careful and detailed research of over three hundred sources, author and New Orleans native Rosary O'Neill explores this storied institution, its antebellum roots, and its effects in the twenty-first century.

Featuring homes such as the beautiful Merieult House in the French Quarter and Oaklawn Manor near Bayou Teche, this comprehensive guide highlights the finest plantation homes in all regions of the state. From Natchitoches's Melrose Plantation to Lafayette's Alexandre Mouton House, these homes have been an integral part of Louisiana, some from the periods of French and Spanish rule. Butler carefully describes each structure's architectural uniqueness and relates the home's significance. She notes private and public plantations and includes updated contact information, all organized by driving tours. This revised edition reflects recent restorations and includes a new section showcasing the homes in New Orleans' Garden District.

From the American Railroad to Space - Discover the fascinating history of the Michoud Assembly Facility.

After an auspicious beginning as a royal land grant from French king Louis XV to a wealthy French citizen of New Orleans in 1763, the land Michoud Assembly Facility occupies remained in private ownership until 1940, when it was sold to the US government. Prior to World War II, the site was used to grow sugar, hunt muskrat, and build railroad and telephone lines. In 1941, the world's largest industrial site was built, covering 43 acres of unobstructed, low-humidity, air-cooled space under one roof to construct C-46 cargo planes. The Korean War required the assembly of Sherman and Patton tanks there, while the space race compelled the design and assembly of the colossal Saturn I, IB, and V rocket boosters for the Apollo program that reported directly to Dr. Wernher von Braun. The 1970s saw the fabrication of the enormous external tank for the Space Shuttle program. Today, Michoud Assembly Facility continues to support the US space program by building major components for the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (or MPCV).

Delve deep into the history of Lake Charles, Louisiana's past, through pirates, Creoles and cowboys, and other lost stories with historian Adley Cormier.

Fires, hurricanes, neglect and progress erased much of Lake Charles's physical history. The young town was a magnet for pirates and privateers, like the infamous Jean Lafitte, who conducted business at the mouth of what is today called the Contraband Bayou. Michigan Men, creoles and cowboys made their way to the fledgling Louisiana town to start new lives. A great lumber industry shaped the town in the nineteenth century. Streetcars ran routes around the clock seven days a week. Author and historian Adley Cormier delves deep into Lake Charles's past to uncover a history that has been lost to time and change.

In The Jewish Community of Shreveport the rich history of this influential and vibrant citizenry is chronicled by well-known Louisiana historian Eric J. Brock, archivist of Shreveport's B'nai Zion Temple. Nearly 18 decades of Jewish life in Shreveport are depicted in over 200 vintage images, many of which are previously unpublished. Both of the city's synagogues, B'nai Zion and Agudath Achim, are represented, as are many of the rabbis, business leaders, political leaders (including three mayors), and laypeople from the community's long history.

Young D.J. is going to be a page for the queen of Zulu, the oldest African-American parade in the New Orleans Mardi Gras.

Essential reading on segregation now in paperback!

"Medley deftly puts in colorful context the U.S. Supreme Court's signal 1896 decision sanctioning so-called separate but equal facilities. . . . Rich in family and community history and local lore, Medley's work details the world of New Orleans' free people of color . . . this remarkable read is recommended."
-Library Journal

In this board book, Huey the pelican is learning his Louisiana colors. Come fly with him and see how colorful our state can be, with blue in the heron, red in the peppers, yellow in the sunshine, and so much more!

Johnette Downing stays true to her Louisiana roots in her newest book, featuring a young pelican searching for his proper home. As Petit Pierre journeys across the wetlands, he asks each creature where he should live. He accumulates gifts from them until he realizes the wetlands are home to all his friends and, just maybe, to Pierre as well!

Within the luscious illustrations are facts about the denizens of the wetlands and how each reader can make a difference in preserving and protecting the wetlands for generations to come. Proceeds from this book, created in partnership with the Audubon Nature Institute and the New Orleans Pelicans, fund wetland education programs.

"A classical work."
-H. L. Mencken, early twentieth-century distinguished journalist, critic, and editor

From the story behind the Side Car Cocktail to the secret of perfect Mississippi Planter's Punch, this effervescent collection is a spirited romp through the history and recipes of New Orleans's most famous cocktails.
Concoct exotic beverages such as Pousse Caf', Vieux Carr' Cocktail, and Absinthe Anisette as you imbibe the lore behind these libations. These colorful stories, including the creation of the Ramos Gin Fizz and the origin of the word cocktail, are stimulating sips of the zest of the Crescent City.
Since its debut 1937, Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix 'Em has brought a twist of Bourbon Street to homes worldwide.

Welcome to New Orleans! Follow parent and child pelicans as they take a tour of the Crescent City together. From the French Quarter to the Garden District, along the Mississippi and across Lake Ponchartrain, join the pelicans as they listen to music at Preservation Hall, celebrate Mardi Gras, and eat jambalaya and gumbo. Visit the Audubon Zoo and City Park, ride a St. Charles Avenue streetcar, and cheer the Saints. Along the way take a swamp tour, visit a plantation, and even ride on a steamboat! These feathered tour guides will remind children and their loved ones of their own great visit to New Orleans.Bestselling author Martha Day Zschock is an artist and former elementary teacher with a passion for helping children explore new places. The Hello! series illustrates how exploring real places yields new discoveries. Through these journeys, kids can explore and become experts on the world they see inside and outside the book, through the engaging, bright, and detailed illustrations. For ages 0-3. Made in the USA.

Authors Rory O'Neill Schmitt and Rosary O'Neill share the NOLA life of Kate Chopin, the first great American woman novelist. In this epic story, Chopin becomes a Phoenix rising amidst the disgrace, death, and abandonment in the romantic desperate setting of post-Civil War Louisiana. This book, a follow up to Edgar Degas in New Orleans, presents Chopin, who lived in the same neighborhood as the Degas family during that time. Chopin celebrated in New Orleans’ great homes and mansions up River Road with their wonderland of oaks, columns, balconies. She had lived in the Garden District, watched New Orleans trolleys with their big windows roll past the Gothic mansions and Greco-Roman houses on St. Charles Avenue, strolled languidly through Audubon Park with its oak tree wonderland full of swamps and lush Louisiana foliage.

While the name of the city New Orleans itself implies reinvention, among its traits most beloved by residents and visitors alike in the 21st century are the things that have not changed much over time. Jazz, flavor, celebration, and a warm welcome are always on the menu.  Lifelong resident and author Troy Broussard recounts the more than three-century story of a city as familiar with rebuilding and rebirth after tragedy as it is with revelry.

In chapters ranging from food and drink to history and war, this book shares real-life stories that only New Orleans could produce. Errol Laborde founded Lundi Gras and the now-beloved tradition of Zulu meeting Rex at Spanish Plaza before a loud, excited crowd on the eve of Fat Tuesday. He tells that origin story here, along with other vignettes adapted from his national-award-winning Streetcar column in New Orleans magazine.

Author William Thibodeaux shares a bevy of Cajun Country tales.

From shocking one offs to delightful immersion into the quotidian lives of Cajuns long deceased, we find ourselves with a satisfying grab bag of Cajun history. A murder becomes a case that winds its all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. A feud erupts into a shootout on election day 1924 with three dead and four injured. One ordinary Cajun is torn between two passion—photography and railroading. Another young man rises to the rank of postmaster. Cajun music is reborn in these pages, and the university in Lafayette is founded. The legality of the Louisiana Purchase comes under scrutiny here, and communities lost to the great floor of 1927 are remembered, as is the once unthinkable banning of the French language on public-school grounds. During the yellow fever epidemic, one town tries to save itself by banning all inbound trains from NOLA. Another city in the region is befallen by a curse placed on its boundaries.