NONFICTION - April 3, 1994

NEW ORLEANS: Behind the Masks of America’s Most Exotic City by Carol Flake (Grove Press: $22; 288 pp.) “I came to think of that vital essence peculiar to New Orleans as a sort of elixir or potion, something like the sassafras found in file, the secret of good gumbo. . . . That elusive, soulful essence that has survived for so long in New Orleans, thriving amid all the strangeness and decadence, is as rare and fragile as an endangered tropical plant, deep in the swamp, that may die before its curative powers are recognized.” So says Carol Flake in “New Orleans,” a detailed examination of the Big Easy through turbulent times.

In 1992, Councilwoman Dorothy Mae Taylor introduced an anti-discrimination ordinance against the krewes, which are basically social clubs, some over 100 years old, that hold public parades and private balls during Carnival, a period of festivities culminating with Mardi Gras. There are gay krewes, black krewes, all woman krewes and highly commercialized krewes. It seems, however, that Dorothy Mae Taylor was after the old-line krewes of white, uptown aristocrats who were quickly losing their hold over a destitute, crime-ridden city. “New Orleans,” using the proposed ordinance as drama, gives us a portrait of a place that is either about to perish or about to be reborn.

Flake has a real talent for interviews along with a flawless sense how much of herself belongs on the page. She makes New Orleans become like a friend going through a really rough time, someone you love and want to help. There are no pat answers, no fingers pointed, no personal vendettas. “New Orleans,” is just a smart, moving look at a city in trouble.