PRX: IdeaSphere with Jason Berry

Host Guy Rathbun

In his book, City of a Million Dreams: A History of New Orleans at Year 300, author and documentarian Jason Berry opens his story with an iconic New Orleans funeral in 2015. He then juxtaposes the lavish funeral with the controversy surrounding a statue of Robert E. Lee.

Berry peppers his work with in-depth stories of the people who made New Orleans what it is today. The city’s founder covered in snake tattoos, the beginning of Mardi Gras, a priest and secret agent of the Inquisition, a street evangelist and visionary artist. And, a musician who can stand as a symbol for the rebirth of a city mangled by Hurricane Katrina.

Jason Berry is a documentarian and award-winning writer who is best known for his pioneering investigative reporting on sexual abuse in the priesthood of the Catholic Church.

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