Description: Descendants tracks the changing definition of what it meant to be Creole in New Orleans and the complex cultural, economic, and social connotations of one's parentage.
Brief description: Born in Thibodaux, Louisiana, John Durel holds a PhD in American History from the University of New Hampshire. Following a career working in and consulting with museums nationwide and internationally, in 2019 he returned to his interest in historical research and writing. Descendants is his first book.
Review Quotes: "What happens when a historian, a fine writer, and now an astute genealogist pierces the veil of a Creole family whose roots reach back to the middle of the eighteenth century? An eye-opening and often engrossing glimpse of blended families, bathed in light and shade. . . . This is a book not just of historical reckoning; it is a reminder of how we tell stories to know ourselves. This telling is exemplary." --Lawrence N. Powell, author of The Accidental City