New Orleans may be the most written about of all American cities. Yet, very few serious studies have been made that haven't fallen into either the "moonlight and magnolia" romantic view or become stridently critical, perhaps baffled at a place which constantly confounds preconceptions. Tropical in climate, lush in setting, exotic in architecture, sensual, if not hedonistic, in atmosphere, New Orleans is a worldly, yet bustling seaport whose very name evokes romance and myths. No wonder, then, that most writers perpetuate old myths, create new ones, or at the least get lost in the intellectual and critical miasma that is as natural to New Orleans as the fogs of the swamps and lakes that surround it. It is the intent of this book to penetrate the myths, fable and romance that have so often obscured the true uniqueness of New Orleans--that it is a city where no city, in fact, should be and has been a remarkably successful city for a very long period of time. To do so, we shall examine the peculiar geographical, geological, political, social, and economic conditions that determined New Orleans' founding and growth, and blah, blah, blah...