Andy Horowitz, Katrina: A History, 1915–2015

Excerpt

In 2020, the population of New Orleans was about 384,000, placing it at about 50th position in a ranking of the most populous cities of the USA. Yet, despite it relatively small size, I doubt that there is a reader that does not have an image of New Orleans as a major global city, based on its distinctive history and culture that includes its architecture, food and music. Katrina tells a great story of the growth of the city, its economic reliance on resource extraction, the attempts to control flooding and the emergence of its geographical layout. The hurricane is the event that reveals the inequities embedded in its urban landscape, which have become more accentuated since; this is the disaster as far as Horowitz is concerned. The Epilogue in Katrina paints a picture of loss of a special place for New Orleanians that were displaced and those that remain. …