Garry Boulard


Garry Boulard is a reporter and author whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Tribune and Times-Picayune, among other publications.
Boulard's first book was published in 1989: Just a Gigolo: The Life and Times of Louis Prima by the Center for Louisiana Studies. The book was praised in 1990 by musicologist Rhodes Spedale in the journal Louisiana History: "There is much to recommend in this biography...the author's depiction of Prima as a bandleader and businessman is illuminating in a factual, historical manner." The book was re-released in 2002 by the University of Illinois Press as Louis Prima. Said writer Bill Sweeney in the journal Popular Music : "Boulard is at his best in painting the social, ethnic, and family background to Prima's development in the early decades of the twentieth century." Keitth Briggs in the monthly Blues Revue lauded the book, noting "It's quality is attested by its being judged worthy enough to win release under its new title in the University of Illinois Press' prestigious Music in American Life series." 1
In 1995 Boulard interviewed former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard and Neo-Nazi David Duke for The Advocate magazine. It was during this 5,000-word cover story that Duke said he would reduce the spreading of AIDS through the mandated use of "the indelible, unwashable, AIDS tattoo. It would be placeed in the private area, maybe even with a glow-in-the-dark ink."2
In 1998, the Pelican Publishing Company released Boulard's Huey Long Invades New Orleans, a book that won the praise of Lester Sullivan in Gambit Weekly: "Boulard knows how to write. The prose is succinct and well-paced, the book is smoothly read and hard to put down." 3
In the Times-Picayune, Susan Larsen characterized Boulard's writing as "vivid and compelling, he captures Huey Long in all his larger-than-life appetites and ambitions." 4
David Roberts in the Bloombury Review remarked: "With the skills of a researcher and the descriptive talents of a story teller, Boulard keeps the history interesting, the story moving and the passages colorful." 5
Michael L. Kurtz, Southeastern Louisiana University history professor, wrote in the Journal of American History that Boulard's book was "well-written and thoroughly researched...a valuable contribution to our knowledge and understanding of that fascinating individual and era in Louisiana history." 6
In 2001 Boulard interviewed the legendary former four-term Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards, a year before Edwards went to prison on racketeering charges, for what would turn out to be a 4,000-word profile of Edwards that appeared in the Times of Acadiana on August 15 of that year. 7
The 2001 release of Boulard's The Big Lie—Hale Boggs, Lucille May Grace and Leander Perez in 1951 prompted Louisiana State University history professor Jerry Sanson to laud a "Well-written, highly useful account of a colorful event in the state's political history." Boulard's footnotes, added Sanson, "include references to copious amounts of primary and secondary resources as well as numerous interviews that he conducted as he explored his topic." 8
In 2003 North Carolina State University history professor Pamela Tyler in the Journal of Southern History, described Boulard as "a freelance journalist with an obvious relish for the pungency of Louisiana politics," adding that Boulard had done "solid work in a multitude of archival sources." 9
The Big Lie has since been listed in the bibliography for Hale Boggs on the official site of the U.S. Congress Biography Guide. 10
A second Boulard book on Long published by Pelican Publishing in the summer of 2003 won mixed reviews. University of Wisconsin professor Glen Jeansonne, also the author of a Huey Long biography, criticized it for being too much of a popular history and failing to explore the dark side of the Long regime: "Boulard is chiefly a storyteller and his book is breezy and brisk," wrote Jeansonne, "yet the ideas are derivative." Times-Picayune columnist Angus Lind described the book as a "quick read" that "tells not only in words but in a wonderful collection of artwork the story of the man dubbed 'the Kingfish.'" In the Arkansas Review, Gordon Harvey wrote: "Garry Boulard has attempted, and succeeded, in capturing Long's larger-than-life career and persona."11
In 2006, Boulard released The Expatriation of Franklin Pierce—The Story of a President and the Civil War.. The book has since been referenced in the World Book Encyclopedia and listed on the Library of Congress Web Guide, "Franklin Pierce: A Resources Guide." It is also a recommended title on the website uspresidentsreadingproject.com. In 2007, the book was named as one of the best presidential biographies on listofbests.com and praised in 2010 by reviewer Bill Clayton on the website AntebellumPolitics.com as "definitely readable...a good short biography for a focus on the end of Pierce's life." Also in 2010, the website Presidential History Geeks called it a "Concise, but captivating history." 12
Anthony Bergen in the website Dead Presidents.com has called Boulard's Pierce book "Detailed, fast-paced, and filled with fascinating anecdotes that give a little more color to the life and White House of one of our most obscure Presidents." 13
Boulard released The Swing Around the Circle--Andrew Johnson and the Train Ride that Destroyed a Presidency in 2008. It has since been referenced in the New York Times, Bloomberg.com, and Businessweek Insider. 14
In the summer of 2010, Boulard interviewed Obama Secretary of Education Arne Duncan regarding his department's "Race to the Top" federal initiative. The Q&A appeared in the September 2010 issue of State Legislatures Magazine.15
In the fall of 2014, as former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was entering a federal correctional institute in Texas after being convicted of bribery, fraud and money laundering, Boulard wrote two stories for New Orleans City Business, exploring the record and legacy of the 8-year Nagin administration.16
Boulard released The Worst President: The Story of James Buchanan, in the summer of 2015, a book looking at the life of the 15th president of the United States with a focus on the months between the 1860 election and the coming of the Civil War in 1861. The book has been referenced in the Journal of the Civil War Era and positively reviewed on the webpage "Presidential History Geeks," noting that Boulard's "economy of prose does not diminish his ability to tell the story of Buchanan, both as a president and as a person."
In a review of the book for the Skeptical Analysis website, John Blanton writes: "Boulard's dissection of the 15th President is neat and nearly surgical. He recounts Buchanan's early years and his rise to prominence and then catalogs the fumble upon fumble that marked his term in office." The Worst President has received an average of 4.5 stars from readers on both the Amazon and Good Reads sites. The book has additionally been recommended by writer and analyst James Jay Carafano in the bimonthly National Interest 17
Boulard's most recent book, Daniel Sickles: A Life, is a comprehensive look at the life and career of controversial Civil War General Daniel Sickles published in November 2019.
Boulard's essays and reviews have appeared in the Journal of Southern History, Louisiana History, Journal of Mississippi History, Florida Historical Quarterly and Gulf Coast Historical Review.
  1. "Book Reviews," Louisiana History, Volume 31, Number 3, Summer 1990, 311-12; "Reviews," Popular Music, Volume 23, Number 1, January 2004, 99-100; "Louis Prima," Blues Revue , November 2002, 124.
  2. "The Man Behind the Mask," by Garry Boulard Advocate, May 2, 1995, 29-35
  3. "A Man in Full," Lester Sullivan, Gambit Weekly, July 27, 1999
  4. "Long's Arm of the Law," Susan Larsen, Times-Picayune, October 4, 1998
  5. "Huey Long Invades New Orleans," David Roberts, Bloombury Review, April 1999
  6. "Book Reviews," Michael Kurtz, Journal of American History, March 2000
  7. "Edwin Edwards: Reflections on a Life," Garry Boulard, Times of Acadiana, August 15, 2001
  8. "The Big Lie," Jerry Sanson, Louisiana History, Winter 2003
  9. "The Big Lie," Pamela Tyler, Journal of Southern History, May 2003
  10. "Boggs, Thomas Hale, Sr.," Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, congress.gov
  11. "Book Review," Glen Jeansonne, Louisiana History, Spring 2004; "The Long and Short of it," Angus Lind, Times-Picayune, July 30, 2003; "Book Reviews," Gordon Harvey, Arkansas Review, April 2004
  12. "Franklin Pierce--A Resources Guide," Library of Congress.gov; US Presidents Reading Project, blogspot.com; "Best Presidential Biographies, 2007," ListofBests.com.
  13. Anthony Bergen, DeadPresidents.com., January 14, 2018.
  14. "Andrew Johnson's Violent Language," Jamelle Bouie, New York Times, October 2, 2019; "Trump's 2018 Hasn't Been as Bad as Andrew Johnson's 1866," Justin Fox, Bloomberg.com Justin Fox, November 21, 2018; "How One of the Worst U.S. Presidents in History Alienated Congress to the Point that he was Impeached," Business Insider, Aline Cain, April 20, 2017.
  15. "For the Common Good?" State Legislatures Magazine, September 2010
  16. "Nagin's 180: From Business Star to Political Pariah," and "Previous Mayors Handle Transition from Business," New Orleans City Business September 14, 2014
  17. "In Defense of James Buchanan," Michael Todd Landis, Journal of the Civil War Era,January 5, 2017; '"Potus Geeks Book Review: The Worst President." Presidential History Geeks, July 16, 2016; "Race To the Bottom," John Blanton, Skeptical Analysis, June 8, 2017; "Happy President's Day," James Jay Carafano, National Interest, February 16, 2020.