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Harnett Thomas Kane
Harnett Thomas Kane (November 8, 1910-September 4, 1984) was an author of some thirty books on Louisiana and southern history, geography, culture, and fiction.
A native of New Orl...view moreHarnett Thomas Kane (November 8, 1910-September 4, 1984) was an author of some thirty books on Louisiana and southern history, geography, culture, and fiction.
A native of New Orleans and lifelong resident of the South, he graduated from Tulane University in 1931. He was editor of the school paper and began newspaper work full-time while still a sophomore at Tulane. He then became a reporter for the now defunct New Orleans Item for sixteen years, covering everything from murders to the business run, and served for a time on the city desk and copy desk.
When the famous Louisiana scandals broke, the young Mr. Kane was assigned coverage. Widely regarded as one of the greatest examples of reporting, this assignment would lead to the publication in 1941 of his first book, Huey Long’s Louisiana Hayride: The American Rehearsal for Dictatorship, 1928-1940, a study of the corruption of the Long political dynasty in his home state.
The success of Louisiana Hayride secured his future and Kane began writing full-time, gaining recognition as one of the most popular writers and leading authorities on the South. His 1943 work Bayous of Louisiana examines the major bayous of Louisiana, and further works include Plantation Parade (1945), which takes a look at early plantation houses in Louisiana, Spies for the Blue and the Gray (1954), The Ursulines (1959), Gone Are the Days: an Illustrated History of the Old South (1960), and The Romantic South (1961).
Kane died in New Orleans in 1984 aged 73.view less