Katrina

June 15, 2015
A decade after Hurricane Katrina wreaked unprecedented destruction upon New Orleans, journalist Rivlin (Broke, USA) looks back at the fall and rebuilding of the Big Easy. It’s a sprawling, epic tale, filled with cold numbers and heartbreaking scenes of loss and devastation. It’s also an insightful, accessible saga that follows a wide cast of participants—including politicians, businessmen, and everyday residents—over the course of many years. Rivlin addresses the city’s history leading up to Katrina’s landfall, examines how the hurricane transformed the region, and then settles in for the long, arduous rebuilding process. He doesn’t pull punches as he looks at the political, economic, and social aspects of New Orleans’s struggle to recover, nor does he shy away from the complicated racial themes that have always been a part of the city’s history. Rivlin writes from firsthand experience as a journalist first sent to report on the storm’s immediate aftermath, and he skillfully balances out the human elements with concrete details of the devastation and the reconstruction that has followed. For those interested in how New Orleans came to the brink of destruction and slowly fought its way back to become a thriving, even improved, metropolis, this is certainly a work worth checking out. Agent: Elizabeth Kaplan, Elizabeth Kaplan Literary Agency.

July 1, 2015

In his latest work, Rivlin (Broke, USA) details the immediate aftermath of the storm and the scramble to save New Orleans. The author, who covered Katrina for the New York Times, follows the politicians, planners, and business leaders who were charged with rebuilding the city, including Ray Nagin, the once-heralded mayor who was later convicted of corruption. Unlike Roberta Gratz's We're Still Here Ya Bastards, which celebrates New Orleanians who fought to save their neighborhoods, this work documents the failure of the federal government and private sector to address the desperate needs of many of the city's residents. While generally free of analysis, the narrative is quick to highlight that it was the large African American community in New Orleans that bore the worst of both the storm and the recovery. VERDICT This blow-by-blow account of the months and years after Katrina brings back the frustration felt by so many who watched the devastation unfold and raises important questions about the role of race in the response to natural disasters. Recommended for readers interested in New Orleans history and culture. [See Prepub Alert, 2/23/15.]--Nicholas Graham, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

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