Lords of Misrule Review
Most people associate my hometown of New Orleans with the Mardi Gras - the floats, the doubloons, the debauchery. And as a survivor of numerous Carnivals, I can attest that all of those things are absolutely real (especially the debauchery part). But there’s a dark and secretive heart beating behind all the pomp and general insanity. Lords of Misrule by James Gill seeks to peer behind the veil of what Mardi Gras is really all about.
What fascinated me about this book is the way the author breaks down the city's history as it relates to Carnival time, particularly its pre-Civil War origins as an expression of the cultural and economic power of a cabal of elitist men of property and privilege. Gill confirmed something I suspected while growing up traversing the conflicting ley lines delineating the rules of race and class in New Orleans - there's a small group at the top who live differently from the rest of the population, and it’s hard to get into that winner’s circle. Only the right sort of person is allowed into the Boston Club and others of its ilk.
Moreover, this group jealously guards their secrets. In the early 1990s, New Orleans City Council member Dorothy Mae Taylor attempted to desegregate the old boys' clubs behind the upper-crust Comus organization, an event that resulted in Comus suspending its street parade, a decision it has never wavered on. Angry words were thrown back and forth, and various demagogic caricatures such as infamous white supremacist David Duke capitalized on the resulting furor. Gill does an excellent job here recollecting the sordid details and the players on all sides of the debate.
This period was one I was aware of while a young man living in and around the French Quarter at the time, but I never stopped to think about what such a challenge to the barons of the Boston Club actually meant from a cultural standpoint. In the early 90s, no-one would've thought to take Robert E. Lee from his spot atop the pedestal in the circle that used to bear his name; today, the idea such an edifice ever existed is anathema to many people.
Gill’s book should be of interest to anyone not from the region or interested in the intersection of politics, culture and history. As a read it’s a bit dry. But the book is well-researched and even-handed in its pursuit of understanding the mysterious world behind the masks of Mardi Gras.
