The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast

Bestselling historian Douglas Brinkley, a professor at Tulane University, lived through the destruction of Hurricane Katrina with his fellow New Orleans residents, and now in The Great Deluge he has written one of the first complete accounts of that harrowing week, which sorts out the bewildering events of the storm and its aftermath, telling the stories of unsung heroes and incompetent officials alike. Get a sample of his story--and clarify your own memories--by looking through the detailed timeline he has put together of the preparation, the hurricane, and the response to one of the worst disasters in American history. From Publishers Weekly Historian Brinkley ( Tour of Duty , etc.) opens his detailed examination of the awful events that took place on the Gulf Coast late last summer by describing how a New Orleans animal shelter began evacuating its charges at the first notice of the impending storm. The Louisiana SPCA, Brinkley none too coyly points out, was better prepared for Katrina than the city of New Orleans. It's groups like the SPCA, as well as compassionate citizens who used their own resources to help others, whom Brinkley hails as heroes in his heavy, powerful account"and, unsurprisingly, authorities like Mayor Ray Nagin, Gov. Kathleen Blanco and former FEMA director Michael C. Brown whom he lambastes most fiercely. The book covers August 27 through September 3, 2005, and uses multiple narrative threads, an effect that is disorienting but appropriate for a book chronicling the helter-skelter environment of much of New Orleans once the storm had passed, the levees had been breached, and the city was awash in "toxic gumbo." Naturally outraged at the damage wrought by the storm and worsened by the ill-prepared authorities, Brinkley, a New Orleans resident, is generally levelheaded, even when reporting on Brown's shallow e-mails to friends while "the trapped were dying" or recounting heretofore unreported atrocities, such as looters defecating on property as a mark of empowerment. Photos. (May) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Bookmarks Magazine Professor of history and director of the Roosevelt Center at Tulane University, Douglas Brinkley, whose previous efforts include The Boys of Pointe du Hoc and The Majic Bus , brings an historical and personal perspective to bear on one of the first books to detail the Katrina disaster. Some critics point out factual errors and editorial lapses that detract from the author's valuable story, and Diane Jennings writes that Brinkley's book "will be among the earliest, but not among the best, books about the catastrophe." Others praise the author for his passion and the depth of his research and interviews with the individuals whose lives were most affected by the hurricane. The book's value, finally, will be weighed against future accounts of the tragedy, many of which are already in the works. Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. “‘The Great Deluge,’ captures the human toll of Katrina as graphically as the most vivid newspaper and television accounts” — New York Times Book Review “Doug Brinkley’s chronicle of Hurricane Katrina has a keen sense of history and context” — Graydon Carter “[A] riveting story” — Cokie Roberts “The first historical book that has researched the available record on Katrina and is the closest to actual fact.” — Gov. Kathleen Blanco “More dispassionate and analytical books will be written about Katrina, few will capture the human drama as well as Brinkley’s.” — Financial Times “An important, poignant and often-infuriating look at the tragedy.” — Denver Post “Written with verve and energy, this is Brinkley’s best book to date.” — Times Picayune “…likely to be the [account] against which other treatments of the subject will be judged.” — Washington Times “An impassioned argument for sustained national interest in the aftermath of a catastrophe.” — The Advocate “…likely to be the [account] against which other treatments of the subject will be judged.” — Daily Advertiser “You can call “The Great Deluge” history, or you can call it journalism. But it’s good stuff” — St. Louis Post-Dispatch “If you’ve grown numb to the horror of Katrina, this will wake you up. It’s a stirring and important book.” — The Arizona Republic Douglas Brinkley is the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and Professor of History at Rice University, presidential historian for the New-York Historical Society, trustee of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair . The Chicago Tribune dubbed him “America’s New Past Master.” He is the recipient of such distinguished environmental leadership prizes as the Frances K. Hutchison Medal (Garden Club of America), Robin W. Winks Award for Enhancing Public Understanding of National Parks (National Parks Conservation Association), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Lifetime Heritage Award. His book The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast received the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. He was awarded a Grammy for Presidential Suite and is the recipient of seven honorary doctorates in American studies. His two-volume, annotated Nixon Tapes recently won the Arthur S. Link–Warren F. Kuehl Prize. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and three children. Read more