Stanonis gives us a New Orleans that is literal and layered. Creating the Big Easy moves New Orleans into the category of cities with definitive, tourism-based histories. Such cities, progenitors of the future, tell us much about the nature of economic, cultural, and social development.

—Hal Rothman, author of Neon Metropolis: How Las Vegas Started the Twenty-first Century

Studying chambers of commerce, politicians, preservationists and their opponents, novelists, teachers, and the tourists themselves, Stanonis details the surprisingly complex efforts behind marketing New Orleans as a city with an exotic past. The places and events—the Vieux Carre, the French Quarter, Bourbon Street, Mardi Gras, jazz—may be familiar, but the controversies over how or whether they should be tourist attractions are consistently fascinating.

—Ted Ownby, University of Mississippi

[I]nsightful and significant historical detail . . . Stanonis offers a compelling portrait of the rise of tourism in New Orleans and adds unique insight to our understanding of the city's distinctive history. The book is a thought-provoking and penetrating analysis of the early development of tourism in New Orleans and should be the starting point for historians interested in understanding the city's cultural and economic structure between the two World Wars.

—Urban History

A thorough and insightful historical examination of city leaders' efforts to lay the foundation for the city's modern tourist economy.

—Journal of Southern History

Stanonis's monograph contributes substantially to the growing field of tourism studies. . . . He maintains an intricate balance as he moves between the city's business advocates and preservationists, cultural defenders and critics, and politicians and outside observers. . . . His facility with period literary sources offers insight throughout.

—Reviews in American History

Stanonis has contributed an invaluable foray into the origins of the contemporary New Orleans economy.

—Louisiana History