New Orleans after the Promises: Poverty, Citizenship, and the Search for the Great Society [Paperback]

Kent B. Germany (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2007

In the 1960s and 1970s, New Orleans experienced one of the greatest transformations in its history. Its people replaced Jim Crow, fought a War on Poverty, and emerged with glittering skyscrapers, professional football, and a building so large it had to be called the Superdome. New Orleans after the Promises looks back at that era to explore how a few thousand locals tried to bring the Great Society to Dixie. With faith in God and American progress, they believed that they could conquer poverty, confront racism, establish civic order, and expand the economy. At a time when liberalism seemed to be on the wane nationally, black and white citizens in New Orleans cautiously partnered with each other and with the federal government to expand liberalism in the South.

As Kent Germany examines how the civil rights, antipoverty, and therapeutic initiatives of the Great Society dovetailed with the struggles of black New Orleanians for full citizenship, he defines an emerging public/private governing apparatus that he calls the "Soft State": a delicate arrangement involving constituencies as varied as old-money civic leaders and Black Power proponents who came together to sort out the meanings of such new federal programs as Community Action, Head Start, and Model Cities. While those diverse groups struggled--violently on occasion--to influence the process of racial inclusion and the direction of economic growth, they dramatically transformed public life in one of America's oldest cities. While many wonder now what kind of city will emerge after Katrina, New Orleans after the Promises offers a detailed portrait of the complex city that developed after its last epic reconstruction.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Germany's study is a major contribution to a small but growing body of scholarship that asks new questions about the impact and consequences of the civil rights movement, particularly as mediated through the economic opportunity legislation of the 1960s. Focusing on New Orleans, Germany expertly weaves a narrative that considers how the intersection of federal initiatives and grass roots activism shaped the possibilities and limitations for restructuring civic life, black opportunity, and race relations in the post Jim Crow South."--Patricia Sullivan, author of Days of Hope

"Remarkably few historians have probed the local impact of the War on Poverty. While there are many grim twists and unfulfilled hopes in New Orleans After the Promises, Germany shows that the Great Society lived on into the 1970s in New Orleans, and that federal social programs helped to destroy white supremacy. Historians who unthinkingly adopt the concept of a civil rights ‘crisis of victory’, and who assume that the War on Poverty was nothing more than tokenism, must read this important and highly original book."--Gareth Davies, University of Oxford

"Meticulously researched . . . This balanced case study raises new questions about the outcome of the War on Poverty and the persistence of racial inequity in the twenty-first century. . . . This is a fine study that anyone concerned with racial justice in America should read."--Journal of American History

"This is a major contribution to the historiography of civil rights and postwar urban history. Well researched and provocative . . . Dense, nuanced, and at times overwhelmingly detailed, this fresh and invigorating study's scope, range, and ambition are too wide for a short review, but the book will reward the patient reader and deserves the widest possible audience."--American Historical Review

“Deserves to be considered among the foremost urban studies of post-1945 U.S. political and social history . . . Densely packed with intricate details . . . New Orleans After the Promises stands in the vanguard of scholarly attention to the mechanisms through which the Great Society operated."--Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

"Every idealistic college graduate heading to the post-Katrina city to gut houses or teach children should read [Germany's] book. . . . The depth of his research and facility with archival resources . . . is quite remarkable. . . . Leaves the reader wishing to follow the story further."--Reviews in American History

About the Author

Kent B. Germany, a native of Louisiana and former resident of New Orleans, is Assistant Professor of History and African American Studies at the University of South Carolina. Previously he was Deputy Director of the Presidential Recordings Program and director of the LBJ Project at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs. He is co-host of "For The Record," a PBS program on politics and history, and is coeditor of two books about Lyndon Johnson and the 1960s: The Kennedy Assassination and the Transfer of Power and Toward the Great Society.

Product Details

• Paperback: 488 pages
• Publisher: University of Georgia Press (February 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0820329002
• ISBN-13: 978-0820329000
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #734,964 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Important study of a critical period in New Orleans history., April 25, 2007

By 

empty pockets (New Orleans, LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: New Orleans after the Promises: Poverty, Citizenship, and the Search for the Great Society (Paperback)

In order to understand why New Orleans was such a mess when the federal levees broke in 2005 it is necessary to understand the decades of decline the city had undergone. After the Promises sheds light on the changes in the 60's and early 70's, an incredibly tumultuous and defining time for the city, with a strong commitment to detail, however it is marred by the presumptions of its liberal author. The book begins with Johnson's "Great Society " and ends with Marc Essex, the New Orleans sniper; this sort of framing says a lot about the attitude beneath the surface towards the poor and black in New Orleans. Ultimately, it draws questionable conclusions and doesn't look deeply enough at changes such as the decline of the city's port in the falling fortunes of the city.

5.0 out of 5 stars It's a 'must' for any collection strong in both racial issues in America and histories of either Louisiana or the South, March 4, 2007

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

This review is from: New Orleans after the Promises: Poverty, Citizenship, and the Search for the Great Society (Paperback)

In the 1960s and 70s New Orleans was transformed by a people who replaced poverty and prejudice with new architecture, a professional football team, and the Superdome. The city's mixed racial groups participated in a golden age of construction at time when liberalism was waning - only to face destruction with Hurricane Katrina. NEW ORLEANS AFTER THE PROMISES details the influences and success story of the last reconstruction period and draws important connections between this and the city's post-Katrina landscape. It's a 'must' for any collection strong in both racial issues in America and histories of either Louisiana or the South as a whole.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, Shipped Promptly, May 1, 2010

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Grant Cooper "Resume Writer" (New Orleans, LA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: New Orleans after the Promises: Poverty, Citizenship, and the Search for the Great Society (Paperback)

I ordered this book. It was a great price, arrived promptly, and was in first rate condition. The book itself is very well researched and competently written. Perhaps the best book on the subject of New Orleans anti-poverty efforts in the 1960s.