The first jazz funeral I saw was in November of 1973. I had never seen such a beautiful event.
Jason Berry
Jason Berry is the author of a history of New Orleans, City of a Million Dreams, and director of a documentary based on the book that airs on Aug. 26 on Louisiana Public Broadcasting, where it can also be seen by streaming.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
A New Orleans jazz hall and its history in the fight for Black freedom
In post-Civil War New Orleans, Creole leaders won elections and oversaw the desegregation of public schools, a short-lived experiment destroyed after Reconstruction.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
A love song for Ernest Gaines
Ernest Gaines wrote a number of classic novels, including “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Barack Obama and the Limits of Optimism
Jason Berry reviews “A Consequential President” by Michael D’Antonio.
Posted inFrom Our Archives
A Secular Saint: Albert Camus at 100
“November seventh is Camus’s feast day,” says Sister Helen Prejean, with impish irony, giving the agnostic French author a ring of sainthood.“He taught us that Christians should get away from abstractions and confront the blood stained face of history—that we should spe
Posted inFrom Our Archives
What Explains Andy Greeley?: Taking the measure of a many-sided man
Father Andrew M. Greeley’s prolific career halted in Chicago on a chilly November day in 2008. His overcoat snagged as he stepped out of a taxi, throwing him down to a fractured skull. Vibrant at 80, Greeley underwent brain surgery. He returned to his apartment high above Chicago in the John H