Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas Analysis

Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas, written by Rebecca Solnit and Rebecca Snedeker, is much more than a book of maps. The atlas does more than depict New Orleans with pictures and lines of unrecognizable subdivisions and highways. The atlas illustrates the animals, food, people, places, and everything else that New Orleans has to offer in vivid detail through first-person essays written by everyday people. Two essays that delve into these subjects are, “On a Strange Island” by Billy Sothern and “The Presence of the Past” by sisters Dana and Dawn Logsdon. Sothern takes his readers on an excursion to all of his favorite places in New Orleans, despite how abnormal (i.e. Holt Cemetery) they seem, while the Logsdon sisters explore the history and importance of remembering what a location once retained. Although the authors recall New Orleans in varying ways, both essays are built on the same concept: you cannot judge a place by its outermost layer because what is inside—its history—has more depth and detail worth discovering. The contrasting experiences of the different authors from “On a Strange Island” and “The Presence of the Past,” remarket New Orleans through descriptive word tours, which transform ordinary places into unforgettable treasures that the …show more content…
The past is just as easily forgotten; forgetting the past creates ghosts, and the Logsdon sisters say, “New Orleans is a city of ghosts, as is every city: learning history means becoming someone who can see the ghosts and learn from them” (Logsdon 65). Essentially, New Orleans is a city of forgotten history: the people and the places. Dana and Dawn are trying to reconsolidate the knowledge and appreciation of the city during their tour. In order to remarket New Orleans as more than Mardi Gras and Bourbon Street, one must be willing to make amends with the past injustices and bring forth the history and redeeming qualities of New