Reading Recommendations:

The World That Made New Orleans, From Spanish Silver to Congo Square, Ned Sublette -

New Orleans is the most elusive of American cities. The product of the centuries long struggle among three mighty empires - France, Spain, and England - and among their respective American colonies and enslaved African people, it has always seemed like a foreign port to most Americans, baffled as they are by its complex cultural inheritance.

The World That Made New Orleans offers a new prospective on this insufficiently understood city by telling the remarkable story of New Orleans first century, a tale of imperial war, religious conflict, the search for treasure, the spread of slavery, the Cuban connection, the cruel aristocracy of sugar, and the very different revolutions that created the United States and Haiti. It demonstrates that New Orleans already had its own distinct personality at the time of Louisiana's statehood in 1812. By then, important roots of American music were firmly planted in its urban swamp, especially in the dances at Congo Square, where enslaved Africans and African-Americans appeared en masse on Sundays to, as an 1819 visitor to the city put it, "Rock the city."

This book is a logical continuation of Ned Sublette's previous volume, Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo, which was highly praised for its synthesis of musical, cultural, and political history. Just as that book has become a standard resource in Cuba, so too will The World That Made New Orleans long remain essential for understanding the beautiful and tragic story of this most American of cities.

And, Simple Prosperity, Finding Real Wealth in a Sustainable Lifestyle, David Wann -

Are you ready to passionately declare yourself "green" but secretly hide a carbon footprint the size of Texas? Do you speed right by your local farmer's market in a desperate rush to go buy the latest in entertainment gadgetry? Are you constantly overwhelmed by how much stuff you seem to have but how little time you have to enjoy it? Careful, you may suffer from Affluenza. But fear not, David Wann knows exactly how to help.

In his best selling Affluenza, David Wann and his co-authors diagnosed the debilitating disease of over consumption. Now in Simple Prosperity, he shows us how we can overcome it to recapture a more abundant and sustainable lifestyle without sacrificing everything we love. Wann believes in small everyday changes such as:

• Creating a richer you through new experiences;

• Forming higher-yield friendships and stronger bonds by simply saying, "Hello, neighbor!";

• Taking care of your health (you may be surprised in what ways it'll help you save);

• Remembering you may be short on time, but so is Mother Nature, if that microwavable container takes too long for her to breakdown; and

• Celebrating the Earth by planting a tree - it'll be around far longer than the next generation of MP3 players.

- And much more -

A new way of investing in yourself and your life that will save your sanity and the planet.

And, From A Watery Grave, The Discovery and Excavation of LaSalle's Shipwreck, LaBelle, James E. Bruseth and Toni S. Turner, Foreword by T.R. Fehrenbach -

On a frigid, stormy day in February of 1686, a small sailing ship lost control and ran aground in Matagorda Bay. The crew had braved an ocean voyage, attacks by pirates, raids by Native Americans, and ravaging diseases under the command of famed explorer, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, hoping to establish a colony in the New World. Pounded in the Texas bay by gale force winds and storm surges, LaBelle finally slipped beneath the water and sank to the bottom, where it would remain for centuries.

More than 300 years later, Texas Historical Commission archaeologists discovered LaBelle's resting place. Using cutting-edge technology and scientific innovations, investigators excavated the shipwreck and salvaged from its watery grave more than a million artifacts, including bronze guns, muskets, trade beads, axes, rings, bells, dishes, medicines, everything a New World colony needed for survival.

A beautiful coffee table, pictured in color, detailed narrative of this ship and its tragic story.

See you at Rylander!