Hurricane Katrina and Its Aftermath--10 Years Later: A Reading List

Ten years ago on August 25th Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, causing breaches in levees and leaving unbelievable destruction in its wake. Since Katrina, there have been a number of excellent books written about the disaster. Some of the best are listed below.

NONFICTION

Nine Lives: Mystery, Magic, Death, and Life in New Orleans by Dan Baum (2009)
Nine Lives explores New Orleans through the lives of nine characters over 40 years, bracketed by two epic hurricanes. It brings back to life the doomed city, its wondrous subcultures, and the rich and colorful lives that played themselves out within its borders.

Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink (2013)

The author, a physician and reporter, provides a landmark investigation of patient deaths at a New Orleans hospital ravaged by hurricane Katrina and a suspenseful portrayal of the quest for truth and justice. She reconstructs five days at Memorial Medical Center and draws the reader into the lives of those who struggled mightily to survive and to maintain life amid chaos.

The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast by Douglas Brinkley (2006)
This account of Hurricane Katrina and the devastation it left in New Orleans and across the Gulf Coast documents the events and repercussions of the tragedy and its aftermath and the ongoing crisis confronting the region.

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers (2009)
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, longtime New Orleans resident Abdulrahman Zeitoun was cast into an unthinkable struggle with forces beyond wind and water. In the days after the storm, Zeitoun traveled the flooded streets in a secondhand canoe, delivering supplies and helping those he could. A week later, Zeitoun abruptly disappeared--arrested and accused of being an agent of Al-Qaeda.

1 Dead in Attic: After Katrina by Chris Rose (2007)
1 Dead in Attic is a collection of stories by Times-Picayune columnist Chris Rose, recounting the first harrowing year and half of life in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Rose provides a rollercoaster ride of observations, commentary, emotion, tragedy, and even humor in a way that only he could find in a devastated wasteland.

Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City by Jed Horne

Hurricane Katrina shredded one of the great cities of the South. As levees failed and the federal relief effort proved lethally incompetent, a natural disaster became a man-made catastrophe. As an editor of New Orleans' daily newspaper, the Times-Picayune, Jed Horne has had a front-row seat to the unfolding drama of the city's collapse into chaos and its continuing struggle to survive.

A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld (2009)
This graphic novel depicts the events of Hurricane Katrina through seven true stories of survival in the days leading up to and following the storm and flooding that occurred in its aftermath.

The Good Pirates of the Forgotten Bayous: Fighting to Save a Way of Life in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina by Ken Wells (2008)
Details the experiences of the Robin family of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, who chose not to evacuate in advance of Hurricane Katrina. The book discusses how they survived the dangerous swells in their fishing boat docked in Violet Canal.

FICTION

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward (2011)

Enduring a hardscrabble existence as the children of alcoholic and absent parents, four siblings from a coastal Mississippi town prepare their meager stores for the arrival of Hurricane Katrina while struggling with such challenges as a teen pregnancy and a dying litter of prize pups.

The Tin Roof Blowdown: A Dave Robicheaux Novel by James Lee Burke (2007)
Follows the adventures of detective Dave Robicheaux, who struggles with alcoholism and rage while fighting to protect lives in Katrina-devastated New Orleans.

City of Refuge by Tom Piazza (2008)
Uprooted from their New Orleans homes by Hurricane Katrina, the Donaldson and Williams families--one black, the other white, make their way to Houston and share disparate experiences trying to rebuild their lives.

Look for more books about Katrina this August and September as we come up on the tenth anniversary of this significant event.