In the coming century, the world might need New Orleans more than ever

After Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana 20 years ago, my wife joined many others in working full-time to help the state recover. She recently gathered in New Orleans with former colleagues from that sad, twisted time to remember what was lost, what was reclaimed, and what still needs to be done two decades after that epic tragedy.

On the morning of the reunion, I spotted a photo in The New York Times of a young man reading “A Confederacy of Dunces,” John Kennedy Toole’s comic novel about oddball Ignatius J. Reilly’s misadventures in the Crescent City. When I first read “Dunces” many years ago, I wondered if people beyond New Orleans would grasp its strange local vibe. But as I came to understand, readers everywhere loved the story because of — not in spite of — its peculiar New Orleans s