Inside the Carnival: Unmasking Louisiana Politics

In the popular American imagination, Louisiana may come closer than any other state to offering the experience of a foreign culture—a Spanish-moss-draped netherland filled with friendly but vaguely threatening Cajuns, seething creature-infested swamps, the whirling masked chaos of Mardi Gras, seductive N’awlins cadences, and most vividly, even pruriently, the train wreck of Louisiana politics: cash-under-the-table shenanigans, fat and sassy environmental polluters, devil-and-the-deep-blue-sea electoral choices like the 1991 gubernatorial runoff between the Klan-tainted David Duke and the criminally indicted Edwin Edwards. Wayne Parent sees all of this clearly with both an entertainer’s eye and a social scientist’s rigor. He subjects Louisiana’s politics to rational and empirical analysis, seeking and finding coherent reasons for the state’s bizarre spectacle without resorting to vague hand-waving about "exoticism," while at the same time bringing to life the juicy stories that illustrate his points.

Parent’s main theme is that Louisiana’s ethnic mix, natural resources, and geography define a culture that in turn produces its unique political theater. He gives special attention to immigration patterns and Louisiana’s abundant supply of oil and gas as well as the fascinating variations in political temperaments in different parts of the state. Most important, the author believes that Louisiana’s unusual legal system, odd election rules, overwrought constitutional history, convoluted voting patterns, and unmatched record of political corruption are concrete peculiarities that deserve thorough and concise explanation. He delivers just that, while at the same time he interprets signs of change in the offing.

Rich in historical facts, gripping tales, and comparative data, Wayne Parent’s primer on Louisiana politics will satisfy anyone agog at the state’s saga.