New Orleans practically owns Mardi Gras, and you would be hard-pressed to find someone who would deny it. The wild celebration brings thousands of tourists to Louisiana each year, but none of it would be possible without the carnival krewes. The backbone of this Big Easy tradition, different krewes put on extravagant paries and celebrations to commemorate the beginning of the Lenten season. Historic krewes such as Comus, Rex, and Zulu date back generations and have become part of New Orleans' greater history, but today, what was once an exclusive position has widened their reach and new krewes are inaugurated regularly to enrich the flavor of Louisiana's cultural melting pot. Through careful and detailed research of over three hundred sources, author and New Orleans native Rosary O'Neill explores this storied institution, its antebellum roots, and its effects in the twenty-first century.

Rosary O'Neill is a native New Orleanian living in New York City. She is Professor Emeritus of Drama and Speech at Loyola University of New Orleans, a recipient of five Fulbright Senior Specialist Program Fellowship awards, Senior Fulbright Drama Specialist and author of twenty-two plays. Rosary is a member of the Playwright Directors Workshop, Actors Studio and founder of the Southern Repertory Theatre in New Orleans, the State of Louisiana's only actor's equity theatre. Kim Marie Vaz is professor of education and the associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Xavier University of Louisiana. She is the author of The "Baby Dolls": Breaking the Race and Gender Barriers of the New Orleans Mardi Gras Tradition. Her book served as the basis for a major installation on the Baby Doll tradition at the Presbytere unit of the Louisiana State Museum as part of the museum's permanent display on the history of Carnival in Louisiana.

ISBN: 1626191549

6x9 Paperback

238 Pages

Published: February 2014