We Shall Not Be Moved

April 2, 2012
City Hall stalls while neighborhoods forge ahead in this unfocused study of the post-Katrina disaster recovery in New Orleans. Teacher and organizer Wooten (No One Had a Tongue to Speak) celebrates heart-warming scenes of mutual aid in districts from the impoverished Lower Ninth Ward to prosperous Lakeview, profiling the local residents, clergymen, and activists who removed flood debris, rebuilt homes, enticed neighbors back, and managed volunteers (including actor Brad Pitt). But the biggest obstacles they faced were city leaders who envisioned a smaller, wealthier, whiter New Orleans, tried to make rebuilding contingent on neighborhood “viability,” and placed ominous green dots on planning maps where flood-ravaged blocks were to become parks. Wooten’s narrative of citizen self-help gradually becomes bogged down in bureaucratic detail as scrappy groups evolve into community development corporations that seek grants, start charter schools, and elaborate renewal plans. Unfortunately, his celebration of grassroots process conveys little about the substantive differences between clashing redevelopment proposals, and flits past urbanist initiatives (from urban farming to a light-rail system and roof-top solar panels) that blossomed after Katrina. Wooten’s saga of fight-the-power community organizing yields an inspiring but myopic perspective on the reshaping of New Orleans. Agent: Rich Balkin, the Balkin Agency.

June 1, 2012
Tales of community activists who salvaged their neighborhoods from natural disaster and governmental neglect in New Orleans. After participating in a Harvard fellowship to volunteer with and research the stories of Hurricane Katrina victims, Wooten (co-author: No One Had a Tongue to Speak: The Untold Story of One of History's Deadliest Floods, 2011) moved to New Orleans to more fully immerse himself in the community's rebuilding efforts. Focusing on five distinct neighborhoods, he allows residents and organizers to convey their dismay at government failure, their pride in their communities, and their resilience in tackling unwieldy projects, from gutting damaged homes to applying for charter school status. Many of these neighborhoods were marked for "redevelopment" by the Bring New Orleans Back Commission, an ill-conceived mayoral project that essentially recommended that neighborhoods like the hard-hit Lower Ninth Ward be bulldozed and turned into parks. Facing these kinds of odds, the scrappy New Orleanians who refused to kowtow to city officials and outside consultants command the utmost respect. They also provide excellent examples of how communities facing similar threats (blight, poverty, environmental problems and crime) can work together to improve living conditions, whether or not natural disasters loom on the horizon. Readers won't fault Wooten for his sincerity in gathering these stories, and many of his subjects possess strong voices--e.g., octogenarian Phil Harris, who pragmatically speaks of saving his wife and son from the floodwaters, and Father Vien The Nguyen, who narrates the history of New Orleans' significant Vietnamese population. However, potentially compelling tales often get lost in endless re-creations of committee meetings, charter school board applications and fundraising rallies. The author's tone is a problem as well. Wooten vacillates between addressing a general audience interested in the social ramifications of Katrina and presenting an overview of urban planning better suited to a civics textbook. A well-intentioned but prosaic book.

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Starred review from July 1, 2012
Unlike post-Katrina titles that focused on the immediate personal losses suffered by the people of New Orleans, We Shall Not Be Moved shines a spotlight on the years following the hurricane, subsequent levee failure, and the slow rebuilding effort that continued long after national attention shifted elsewhere. Focusing on several specific neighborhoods, including Lakeview and the Lower Ninth Ward, Wooten introduces residents who found themselves forced to organize in order to save their neighborhoods. Crossing geographic and ethnic lines and presenting a thorough survey of the city's damaged areas, Wooten shares the ways in which local and state governments were overwhelmed and the many individuals who stepped up to the plate and effected positive change. Compelling beyond belief, deserving the broadest possible readership, and mandatory reading for urban planners and community organizers, this is a tour de force about one American city and what it means to fight for the survival of your hometown. If you love where you live, you need to know this story of what it has taken to rebuild every flooded block of New Orleans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)