Product Description

In the span of five violent hours on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed major Gulf Coast cities and flattened 150 miles of coastline. But it was only the first stage of a shocking triple tragedy. On the heels of one of the three strongest hurricanes ever to make landfall in the United States came the storm-surge flooding, which submerged a half-million homes—followed by the human tragedy of government mismanagement, which proved as cruel as the natural disaster itself.

In The Great Deluge, bestselling author Douglas Brinkley finds the true heroes of this unparalleled catastrophe, and lets the survivors tell their own stories, masterly allowing them to record the nightmare that was Katrina.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #684410 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 716 pages

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)
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From AudioFile
Douglas Brinkley brings back the devastation wrought by Katrina and the botched response to it. He outlines the warnings, the storm itself, the collapse of the levees, and the tragic aftermath. Not much additional drama is needed, and Kyf Brewer doesn't provide it; rather, he reads in a reportorial style, making sure you get every word. He shows warmth for the many heroes, such as the unnamed boatmen who risked their lives rescuing people, as well as contempt for Mayor Nagin, who hid out in a high-rise. He also brings home the stench created by heat, carcasses, sewage, and rotting food. Just when we might let our memories of this tragedy dim, this well-done abridged version is a great reminder. J.B.G. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Review
“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 )

“The first historical book that has researched the available record on Katrina and is the closest to actual fact.” (Gov. Kathleen Blanco )

“…likely to be the [account] against which other treatments of the subject will be judged.” (Daily Advertiser )

“Doug Brinkley’s chronicle of Hurricane Katrina has a keen sense of history and context” (Graydon Carter )

“‘The Great Deluge,’ captures the human toll of Katrina as graphically as the most vivid newspaper and television accounts” (New York Times Book Review )

“An important, poignant and often-infuriating look at the tragedy.” (Denver Post )

“…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 )

“More dispassionate and analytical books will be written about Katrina, few will capture the human drama as well as Brinkley’s.” (Financial Times )

“[A] riveting story” (Cokie Roberts )

“Written with verve and energy, this is Brinkley’s best book to date.” (Times Picayune )

“You can call “The Great Deluge” history, or you can call it journalism. But it’s good stuff” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch )