Alan Leonhard

Alan T. Leonhard is a native of New Orleans. He holds a B.A. and M.A. from Tulane University and a Ph.D. from Duke University in political science. While teaching at the university level for over thirty years, he received several grants for research and advanced studies including one from the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is also the author of many academic publications.

After retiring from the faculty of the University of New Orleans, he pursued a second profession as a tour guide and lecturer on the history of New Orleans. Upon completion of his initial training with the Friends of the Cabildo, a nationally recognized volunteer association supporting the Louisiana Sate Museum System, he started to conduct walking tours in the French Quarter. Over the years he has met many visitors who have formed stereotyped images of the city from motion pictures. The experience led him to write New Orleans Goes to the Movies