Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Draining New Orleans: The 300-Year Quest to Dewater the Crescent City

Draining New Orleans: The 300-Year Quest to Dewater the Crescent City

Campanella, Richard
Abernathy, Chris

Audio Book

Technology & EngineeringGeneral World HistoryRegional: South

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN13: 9798212950916
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Published: Jan 16 2024
Language: English
In Draining New Orleans, renowned geographer Richard Campanella recounts the epic challenges and ingenious efforts to dewater the Crescent City. With forays into geography, public health, engineering, architecture, politics, sociology, race relations, and disaster response, he chronicles the herculean attempts to reclaim the city's swamps and marshes and install subsurface drainage for massive urban expansion.

The study begins with a vivid description of a festive event on Mardi Gras weekend 1915, which attracted an entourage of elite New Orleanians to the edge of Bayou Barataria to witness the christening of giant water pumps. What transpired in the years and decades that followed can only be understood by examining the large swath of history dating back two centuries earlier and extending through the colonial, antebellum, postbellum, and Progressive eras to modern times.

The consequences of dewatering New Orleans proved both triumphant and tragic. The city's engineering prowess transformed it into a world leader in drainage technology, yet the municipality also fell victim to its own success. Campanella emphasizes the role of determined and sometimes unsavory individuals who spearheaded projects to separate water from dirt, creating lucrative opportunities in the process not only for the community but also for themselves.

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