Making Modern New Orleans

This week Jack and Justin talk about their 2013 interview with self-exiled New Orleanian and iconoclast, Ben C. Toledano. Whether you agree or disagree with his point of view, it would be difficult to find a more interesting or complicated individual than Toledano. Born to one of the city's old families, he grew over time to see the failings of what he would describe as an insulated and intellectually incurious elite. He was an early Republican at a time when the Democratic Party dominated Louisiana politics, a talented lawyer who was happier discussing literature, and someone who loved the city so much that he couldn't bear to live here anymore. In this episode Toledano talks about what he saw as the hypocrisy of the political establishment, his unprecedented challenge to Moon Landrieu in the 1970 mayoral election, the failings of the elite institutions like the Boston Club, and literary figures like his friend Walker Percy. 

Creators & Guests

Host
Jack Davis
Veteran journalist and publisher
Producer
Justin Nystrom
Rev. James J. Pillar Distinguished Professor of History and Chair of Department of History, Loyola University New Orleans. Director of Digital Humanities Studio

What is Making Modern New Orleans ?

Every drama deserves a good backstory. For New Orleans, this narrative takes place during the "long 1970s," a time when political transformation, cultural rebirth, and urban reimagining revived a fading port city. Hosted by historian Justin Nystrom and journalist Jack Davis, each episode of the Making Modern New Orleans podcast explores how the city we know came into being through first-hand accounts of the people who made them happen.