Last of the Red Hot Poppas [Hardcover]

Jason Berry (Author), David Rutledge (Editor), Bruce Rutledge (Editor), Leslie Staub (Illustrator), Craig Mod (Designer)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2006

"Last of the Red Hot Poppas will make you laugh and it will make you think rather more deeply than will make you comfortable, and in these wildly disjointed times that means this novel is not only a richly enjoyable read but an essential one." — Robert Olen Butler, author of the Pulitzer-Prize winning A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain

“Right-wing flag enthusiasts, big oil power brokers, luckless inheritors of environmental degradation, professional gamblers, sexual profligates, ACLU lawyers, and political hit men—Last of the Red Hot Poppas has all of these and more. Jason Berry, quintessential Louisiana insider and witty chronicler of what passes for morality in the halls of power, has concocted a tantalizing mix of comic misdemeanors and serious criminal activity.” — Valerie Martin, author of Property

"Both wildly entertaining and deadly serious, Last of the Red Hot Poppas is a fabulous read — nobody understands Louisiana politics (and its larger-than-life characters) better than Jason Berry. I couldn't put this one down." — Lee Smith, author of On Agate Hill and The Last Girls

Last of the Red Hot Poppas is part ribald whodunit, part social satire, and part “spiritual comedy,” as Berry calls it. It’s a chaotic romp through the many levels of “Looziana,” but above all, it is a novel about the struggle to maintain one’s integrity in a mad world of politics and power.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"With the grittiness of Dashiell Hammett and the rhythms of James Ellroy, Jason Berry gives us Louisiana politics. Last of the Red Hot Poppas is a novel you won’t be able to put down." — Raymond D. Strother, Falling Up: How a Redneck Helped Invent Political Consulting

"Nobody understands Louisiana politics better than Jason Berry or writes so convincingly about its corruption, color, and complexity. Last of the Red Hot Poppas had me laughing out loud and turning pages as fast as I could.” — Christine Wiltz, author of The Last Madam: A Life in the New Orleans Underworld

About the Author

Jason Berry is an investigative journalist who has written extensively on Southern politics, culture and religion. His books include "Vows of Silence:The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II" (co author, Free Press, 0743244419), "Lead Us Not Into Temptation" (University of Ill. Press, 0252068122) and "Up from the Cradle of Jazz" (University of Georgia Press, 0820308536).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 305 pages
• Publisher: Chin Music Press; 1ST edition (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974199524
• ISBN-13: 978-0974199528
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #555,770 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jason Berry's first novel, Last of the Red Hot Poppas, takes the reader on a ride through the corrupt and vibrant culture of southern Louisiana, which Berry has been reporting on for decades. This "spiritual comedy," as Berry calls it, borrows on the nove

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank God! A Comedy from Katrina-land, September 20, 2006

By 

A Louisiana Reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: Last of the Red Hot Poppas (Hardcover)

In the wake of all the books about Katrina's devastation, this new novel about Louisiana is better than a breath of fresh air. It's pure oxygen. No, it's laughing gas. The dialogue of the state's spectacularly corrupt politicians is so perfect, I think the author is channelling them. And the depictions of the hard-hustling music promoters, the back-woods evangelists, and the poor folk victimized by the government's environmental racism make you feel like you've been zapped smack into the bayou state. Couldn't stop turning the pages or put the book down. A great, rollicking read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Utterly absorbing from cover to cover., March 4, 2008

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Last of the Red Hot Poppas (Hardcover)

Investigative reporter and award-winning playwright Jason Berry presents Last of the Red Hot Poppas, a mystery novel following the consequences when the Governor of Louisiana is suddenly found dead. In search of the murder motive, a young attorney must navigate the tangled skein of local politics, following a trail that leads to diverse and dangerous locales ranging from a brothel in the swamps to Angola Prison to an isolated mortuary and amidst a dramatic capitol funeral. At the center of the intrigue are a cabal of ruthless oil brokers who heedlessly poison the land with their toxins, in this modern-day parable of greed and ruthlessness. Utterly absorbing from cover to cover.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A tasty riff on Louisiana politics, October 24, 2006

By 

San Francisco Book Lover - See all my reviews

This review is from: Last of the Red Hot Poppas (Hardcover)

You can smell the sweet rot of political corruption in Berry's novel like the stench of a bad oyster or a flooded New Orleans cemetery. This novel revolves around a dead man, but it couldn't be more alive if it got up and danced. Take a writer with a history of great political nonfiction and turn him loose on a novel and you have a gritty, spicy gumbo of a book, full of enough politics to satisfy a jonesing junkie along with all the suspense, sex, and colorful characters any lover of a good read could want. Underneath it all runs a dark current of moral and spiritual questioning that will leave you haunted.