Lords of Misrule: Mardi Gras and the Politics of Race in New Orleans [Paperback]

James Gill (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0878059164 | ISBN-13: 978-0878059164 | Publication Date: January 1, 1997

Mardi Gras remains one of the most distinctive features of New Orleans. Although the city has celebrated Carnival since its days as a French and Spanish colonial outpost, the rituals familiar today were largely established in the Civil War era by a white male elite. In fact, the men behind the masks on the parade floats and at the Mardi Gras balls have kept the spirit of the Confederacy alive. They have put artistry and erudition into their Carnival displays while harboring a virulent racism that has led to violence and massacre. Because the Mardi Gras organizations have remained secret societies, their role in the white supremacist cause has not been fully recorded, until now.

Lords of Misrule is the first book to explore the effects of Mardi Gras on the social and political development of New Orleans, the first to analyze recent attempts to end racial segregation within the organizations that stage the annual festivities.

The history of Carnival is so intertwined with the history of New Orleans that the story cannot be told without a social, economic, and political context. Lords of Misrule examines the often-bloody history of segregation and documents the role of the Carnival fraternity and the controversy aroused by attempts to desegregate Mardi Gras.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Gill, a columnist for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, covers a wealth of little-known history in this chronicle of the recent battle to desegregate Mardi Gras parade groups, or krewes. Mardi Gras is more than this saturnalian city's most famous celebration; it's a crystallization of its unique and volatile cultural mix and its arrogant tradition of formalized prejudice. As Gill documents every city council debate on this sensitive subject since the first desegregation order in 1991 instructed krewes to abide by the civil rights amendment in their membership policies, he traces the lineage of all-white male krewes intent on preserving their elitist status back before the Civil War. African Americans, the city's majority, also have long-standing krewes, and Gill vividly describes their splendid presentations inspired by artful interpretations of American Indian warriors. Mardi Gras history is fascinating, involving, as it does, religion, politics, potent personalities, the blatant abuse of power, all manner of debauchery, and the destructive consequences of an elaborate racial caste system that discriminates against blacks, Italian Americans, and Jews. This is one spicy slice of American life. Donna Seaman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Less a history of Mardi Gras than a view of New Orleans through the lens of that all-consuming celebration of social hierarchy that shows how intertwined are carnival's charms with the misdeeds of the ruling class that invented it. ``New Orleans's pride is that it is unlike any other American city, which is also its undoing,'' writes Gill, a columnist for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. The evolution of America's most promising and industrious antebellum port into a seedy, second-rate city notable primarily for the flamboyant means by which it has flouted conventional morality (through legal prostitution, corrupt and defiant governments, and a closed social order that holds racial and ethnic exclusion more dear than economic prosperity) presents a decadent legacy rivaling the drunken riot of Mardi Gras itself. Though he frames the book with firsthand reporting of Councilwoman Dorothy Mae Taylor's 1991 attempt to adopt an ordinance mandating the integration of the private clubs that stage carnival parades, Gill devotes three-quarters of his text to exploring how members of the secretive old-line krewes, formed in the years surrounding the Civil War, directed that evolution. In the process, he sketches the intricate schematics underlying what he aptly dubs ``the annual reaffirmation of social eminence over merit.'' What looks to outsiders like a chaotic street party is in fact a highly orchestrated social dance allowing the upper crust to establish their pecking order in public (albeit at masked balls hosted by secret societies) while spreading a little pre-Lenten cheer to the common folk. Relying mostly on old newspaper accounts, Gill forges a double-edged portrayal of Mardi Gras that, on one hand, captures the drama and romance of carnivals past and, on the other, unflinchingly details the bitter racial division it still fosters. Scrupulously evenhanded--a lively, irony-loving illumination of the politics and history of America's rowdiest street celebration. (30 b&w illustrations, not seen) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi (January 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878059164
• ISBN-13: 978-0878059164
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #118,854 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Look elsewhere for a scholarly look at Mardi Gras, November 17, 2006

By 

Stephen D. Kahn (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lords of Misrule: Mardi Gras and the Politics of Race in New Orleans (Paperback)

After reading this book, I understand that there is much more to New Orleans' Mardi Gras than a drunken good time. Yet I am frustrated because Gill did little more than illuminate many promising lines of inquiry, without satisfying any of them.

I concur with another reviewer ("Temerous erudition") that Gill's organization is totally scattershot. He piles on the interesting tales, but without much of a conceptual scheme. Intriguing starts are made, then snapped off abruptly; and it's on to the next thought, like literary ADD. I knew I was not in the presence of a first-rate book when, in chapter 2, after introducing the Louisiana slave rebellion of 1811, Gill ends the one paragraph devoted to it thus:

"Thus ended the largest slave uprising in the history of the United States; though a failure, it at least encouraged somewhat more liberal treatment of slaves as well as free people of color for most of the antebellum era."

And then we are off to a different subject. The reader is given a tantalizing view of a fascinating incident--the largest slave uprising in US history! But the parade needs to keep moving and the trail is lost in a blur. It feels like the sort of thing you'd hear from a New Orleans tour guide while walking through the French Quarter.

Also, in this (as in many other instances), Gill does not substantiate his statements. What did the 'liberal treatment' consist of? Is the reader simply expected to look up the incident in an encyclopedia? If I had not read other sources, I would not know of the Louisiana "Code Noir" to which Gill is presumably referring. In a work purporting to be serious history, this is an abuse of the reader's time and money. (And when the sentence is deconstructed, does it really have any meaning? 'Somewhat more liberal' treatment for 'most' of the antebellum period? Without specific examples, this sentence simply ups the word count without saying much. It's the sort of thing my university professors would have torn apart with red pen. Ironic, then, that this is a university press book.)

It's not utterly worthless, hence two stars instead of one. If you are a researcher looking to write a really definitive social and cultural history, this book is a decent place to start as a roadmap--if you fleshed out all of the false starts made by Gill, you'd have a really good book on your hands. Everyone else: caveat emptor!

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Down and Dirty, May 3, 2000

By 

"oscar_freak" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lords of Misrule: Mardi Gras and the Politics of Race in New Orleans (Paperback)

Until I was sixteen, I went to Mardi Gras every year. I was therefore fascinated to read James Gill's account of the twisted and bizarre history of New Orleans' biggest tourism cash cow (albeit one which should not be kept alive through longstanding racist shibboleths), and see what sort of political and social struggles underpinned the history of the old-style Krewes (which, incidentally, I never got to see, my family--and eventually myself--preferring the big flashy ones like Endymion and Bacchus). Gill's accompanying history of New Orleans is even better, yielding many interesting and little known facts. Unfortunately, one gets so wrapped up in stirring episodes like the checkered postbellum career of James Longstreet that the occasional Mardi Gras asides actually get to be irritating (which surely was not the point of the book). Fortunately, Gill's concluding focus on the "battle for Mardi Gras" between Councilwomen Dorothy Mae Taylor and Peggy Wilson brings the story into an exciting present day context which will be unsurprising to anyone familiar with the running circus of lunacy that is Louisiana politics (although it's nice to have confirmation that female politicians can be almost as boorish and intolerant as male politicians). This book, along with John Kennedy Toole's A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES and Jerry Strahan's MANAGING IGNATIUS, is essential reading for anyone looking to learn about New Orleans.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much More than Mardi Gras, February 21, 2000

By 

Steven K. Dickens (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lords of Misrule: Mardi Gras and the Politics of Race in New Orleans (Paperback)

Lords of Misrule is the best history survey of New Orleans I have come across. The idea of using Mardi Gras (Carnival) as the hook for a general history is inspired: the cultural and political history of New Orleans is intimately intertwined with Carnival, and Carnival remains fascinating even when Louisiana politics are repellant. Gill has done his homework, studying promary sources and skeptically drawing his own conclusions, which is absolutely necessary in a place whose history-writing victors have liberally invented romantic myths for 150 years. In serious histories of Louisiana, it's easy to find victims but hard to find heroes, because all sides of each situation are tainted by fluid combinations of racism, violence, and corruption. Lords of Misrule deals with this problem by presenting Mardi Gras as an entity with a life of its own that somehow is able to stand firm on the swampy terrain of Louisiana political and racial history. The writing is quite good, with occasional Oscar Wilde-esque flourishes and frequent ironic double-negative descriptions (e.g. "not unknown" as a way of saying "frequent"). Several of the chapters cover events of the 1990's which Gill witnessed firsthand as a reporter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. These tend to be a bit overly detailed for my taste, but it doesn't bring the book down much. I would be interested in an update chapter, in which Gill discusses the new Krewes (most notably Orpheus, started by Harry Connick Jr) that arose in the mid-90's to replace the ossified old-line Krewes whose feelings were hurt in the tussle over the integration of Carnival. It seems to me that things really worked out for the best, but I haven't lived in New Orleans for over a decade. Doubtless the full story--well told, by a fair and erudite writer like Gill--is much more complicated and much more interesting.