Aug. 29 marked the 10 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, one of the costliest – and deadliest – storms in American history. Damaging the Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Florida, the storm forever altered the city of New Orleans, which is still in the process of rebuilding.
Two books on Hurricane Katrina are particularly noteworthy. Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink is a page-turning work of investigative reporting, bringing readers inside what one would think is the safest place to be in a disaster: a hospital. But with no power or evacuation plans, the situation inside the hospital quickly deteriorated into chaos. Eventually a doctor and two nurses were charged with second-degree murder. This book is a riveting exploration into how people cope in a crisis, and eschews heroes and villains. Rather, it explores the ethics behind what drive our decisions in the most trying of times.
Focusing on a broader scale is Gary Rivlin’s book Katrina: After the Flood, which examines the city’s attempts to recover from the damage. Rivlin found himself intrigued by how a city with one of the highest poverty rates in the country would rebuild from such a colossal disaster, and explores everything from the immediate aftermath up to the most recent efforts.
