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dan1066's review
3.0
This is a good book to get a feel for Louisiana living. Butler provides information on towns many—including myself—have driven through without a second thought or a real look. Interstate highways seldom yield insight into the diversity and richness of local communities. I was surprised by some of her choices; she does a decent job of spotlighting areas worthy of further exploration.
One warning , though: She describes mundane museum displays with a disconcerting amount of enthusiasm and tends to view history with a saccharine nostalgia for the good old days of relocating Native American populations, ruthless white men consolidating their holdings through deceit and force, and slavery. Consider this description of a museum exhibit: “Among its simple exhibits are a series of miniature recreations of early Creole French concessions and cotton plantations showing in great if minuscule detail the daily life on these early properties, the miniature men operating passe-partout crosscut saws to hew timbers for building, the tiny slaves attending to their duties in the quarters behind the big house, the river steamboats pausing at the plantation landing, where an ant-sized fisherman lounges with his cane pole.” This sounds utterly awful, and Butler’s casual reference to slavery is beyond credulity. “Duties?” Someone made a miniature plantation with tiny slaves “attending to their duties.” I’ll pass, thank you. And I see passe-partout (“pass everywhere”) saws at almost all tourist traps. Yeah, we Louisianians are proud of our crosscut saws, which we call “passe-partouts” because that makes them exotic. Yep, good times before chainsaws ruined all the fun.
I was once on a tour of a Louisiana plantation when some British travelers started harassing the tour guide—a young girl dutifully following her script while wearing her Southern belle dress—about whitewashing the real history, demanding to know why the slave cabins were gone and why she expected everyone in the group to accept that this mansion and lifestyle owed nothing to the misery of slavery. They had a point, but the girl should not have received the brunt of their vitriol. No, people like Butler should. She obviously researched her material, but she neglects to properly acknowledge the underlying darkness of it. I’m not arguing she should vividly document pain and suffering along Highway 1; rather, I’m arguing not to sugarcoat it with nostalgia.
I realize my review is conflicting. I did enjoy the concept of exploring the diversity of my wonderful state by traveling from the Gulf Coast of Grand Isle to the Texas/Arkansas border. It’s a remarkable swath of territory and worthy of travel and reflection. I just believe the author read one too many brochures and Wikipedia articles. There’s more depth to this, and I’m glad Butler published a book which enlightened me on the richness of my state as well as the need to assess history’s thumb-print with less nostalgia and vapid platitudes.
***For another Louisiana guide by the same author (and photographer), see [b:Louisiana Swamps and Marshes: Easy-Access Hikes and Drives|28140042|Louisiana Swamps and Marshes Easy-Access Hikes and Drives|Anne Butler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1552673635l/28140042._SX50_.jpg|48151131].
One warning , though: She describes mundane museum displays with a disconcerting amount of enthusiasm and tends to view history with a saccharine nostalgia for the good old days of relocating Native American populations, ruthless white men consolidating their holdings through deceit and force, and slavery. Consider this description of a museum exhibit: “Among its simple exhibits are a series of miniature recreations of early Creole French concessions and cotton plantations showing in great if minuscule detail the daily life on these early properties, the miniature men operating passe-partout crosscut saws to hew timbers for building, the tiny slaves attending to their duties in the quarters behind the big house, the river steamboats pausing at the plantation landing, where an ant-sized fisherman lounges with his cane pole.” This sounds utterly awful, and Butler’s casual reference to slavery is beyond credulity. “Duties?” Someone made a miniature plantation with tiny slaves “attending to their duties.” I’ll pass, thank you. And I see passe-partout (“pass everywhere”) saws at almost all tourist traps. Yeah, we Louisianians are proud of our crosscut saws, which we call “passe-partouts” because that makes them exotic. Yep, good times before chainsaws ruined all the fun.
I was once on a tour of a Louisiana plantation when some British travelers started harassing the tour guide—a young girl dutifully following her script while wearing her Southern belle dress—about whitewashing the real history, demanding to know why the slave cabins were gone and why she expected everyone in the group to accept that this mansion and lifestyle owed nothing to the misery of slavery. They had a point, but the girl should not have received the brunt of their vitriol. No, people like Butler should. She obviously researched her material, but she neglects to properly acknowledge the underlying darkness of it. I’m not arguing she should vividly document pain and suffering along Highway 1; rather, I’m arguing not to sugarcoat it with nostalgia.
I realize my review is conflicting. I did enjoy the concept of exploring the diversity of my wonderful state by traveling from the Gulf Coast of Grand Isle to the Texas/Arkansas border. It’s a remarkable swath of territory and worthy of travel and reflection. I just believe the author read one too many brochures and Wikipedia articles. There’s more depth to this, and I’m glad Butler published a book which enlightened me on the richness of my state as well as the need to assess history’s thumb-print with less nostalgia and vapid platitudes.
***For another Louisiana guide by the same author (and photographer), see [b:Louisiana Swamps and Marshes: Easy-Access Hikes and Drives|28140042|Louisiana Swamps and Marshes Easy-Access Hikes and Drives|Anne Butler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1552673635l/28140042._SX50_.jpg|48151131].
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