This remarkable book, first published twenty years ago, continues to offer a singular window into the customs, politics, and places of twentieth-century Louisiana. This dazzling collection of landscapes and portraits drawn from the lifework of internationally renowned photographer Fonville Winans (1911- 1992) grants readers the opportunity to see his memorable photographs of the people- from oystermen to beauty queens- and the places- from salt mines to cane fields- that exemplify the Pelican State's enchanting culture and ecology. Featuring more than 100 black-and-white photographs spanning Winans' career, this book showcases his eye for authenticity as he captures a wide array of subjects, from politicians to ordinary citizens, and exotic locales to classic Louisiana landscapes. Providing commentary and historical background, Cyril E. Vetter contextualizes Winans' popular images of the state's icons, including Huey P. Long and Edwin Edwards; depictions of festival revelers and fishing rodeos; and glimpses into the Creole and Cajun communities that skirted the Gulf Coast. Yet the photographer's most critical legacy, as Vetter contends in a new introduction, may lie in his scenes of swamps and seascapes that either no longer exist or are currently threatened with extinction. Both nostalgic and refreshing, the perceptive and intriguing images found in Fonville Winans' Louisiana feature the state at its best, as a place of diversity and distinction.

A. Hays Town changed the face of the Louisiana house. In a career that includes designing more than five hundred homes, he led architects, builders, and homeowners to embrace the finest elements of Louisiana's architectural past. Almost every home built in Louisiana during the last twenty years is in some way inspired by Town's work.

The Louisiana Houses of A. Hays Town honors his legacy as Louisiana's premier residential architect. Color photographs of numerous homes -- including Town's own -- by Philip Gould combined with an illuminating text by Cyril E. Vetter produce a volume that captures the appeal and beauty of the state's finest architectural tradition.

Born and raised in rural southwest Louisiana, Hays Town graduated from Tulane University with a degree in architecture in 1926 and worked for a firm in Jackson, Mississippi, for many years. He established his own successful commercial practice in Baton Rouge in 1939, but in the 1960s, Town turned to his abiding passion -- residential architecture. Throughout this chapter of his career, he perfected his inimitable style and emerged as one of the most prominent architects in the South.

Town's residential designs are perceptibly influenced by the diverse culture of south Louisiana. His synthesis of the classic Acadian cottage, Spanish courtyards, and exterior French doors with Creole-influenced full-length shutters achieves an original confluence of seemingly disparate yet elegantly balanced themes and forms. Other Town trademarks include pigeonniers, tree alleys, thirteen-foot ceilings, heavy use of such woods as cypress and heart of pine, plantation-style separate structures, and brick floors with a special beeswax finish.

The Louisiana Houses of A. Hays Town illuminates the momentous effect Town has had on the look of Louisiana. Crafted from the perspective of two people, Vetter and Gould, who are not architects but admirers of one man's exceptional talent, this delightful book demonstrates that each Town house is a work of art that fits both person and terrain. At the door of each home, proud owners hang a bronze plaque that says it all: A. Hays Town, Architect.