Most visitors to New Orleans are quickly made aware of the standard sights and tourist fare. Beyond Bourbon Street there is the French Quarter, the Garden District, the streetcar, the river, the restaurants, the swamps and all the rest. But the true spirit of the place is not contained in any one of these or even in combinations of monumental manifestations. These official wonders of the guide books are like signs that announce aspects of where this place is coming from, but the living realit...