ISBN: 1400065526
List Price: $25.95
Amazon Price: $16.35
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Avg Cusomer Rating: 5
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Summary: Articulate Book on Katrina, New Orleans, Politics and the Aftermath
Of the several Katrina related books out there, this book is my favorite for articulating skillfully not only the human tragedy and devastation of a City but the aftermath such as the real cause of the levee failures, the failed government response and the political conflicts both local and federal that delayed rebuilding. The tragic, sudden displacement of humans and loss of life and the struggle to survive is well told but what makes this book different is that the author seems to be very objective in evaluating the government failures at all levels that include the issues of federal flood insurance and bailouts. Included is the insurance industries reaction to home owners that had no flood insurance. The great debate, well written in newspapers nationally, is about whether the damage was truly wind related, covered, or flood related, not covered. The federal political outlook also lends its compass to the Bush administration, which is described as questioning financial bailouts to home owners that in their opinion neglected to buy insurance. Certainly FEMA comes into play as the author notes that flood zone maps by FEMA were not up to date and one of the fascinating points in the book is how and why the levees failed. In addition, how FEMA spent money recklessly allowing gouging by the unscrupulous and paying $70,000 for trailers instead of $67,000 FEMA homes is a conundrum worth exploring. The author makes a fascinating point that the Netherlands looked to the U.S, years ago to see how to design levees and pump stations and after Katrina the role is reversed. The political tumble between Bush and Blanco is very interesting and the impression one has is that neither is innocent but there is understandable concerns about just giving money to Louisiana with its reputation of extreme patronage. But as the author notes, Blanco learns to play hard ball with the President and congress and her idea of a single, professional levee board, instead of the numerous fractured versions that represented the various parishes, is an idea that she plants and virtually wins. The author offers a good view of the question about fair play between Bush and Blanco that is not fully answered but Mississippi does well in contrast and whether it was because it was a red State or just had a better organized governor still lends itself to question. Of course there is the development battle of where to rebuild, make public parks out of the high risk areas or rebuild complete neighborhoods right back in potentially exposed areas? The author also gives you all full story of the fractures of New Orleans, the collapse of the NOPD and Nagin political and government gaffes such as "chocolate City" remarks (didn't go over well in New Orleans either) but I found the engineering forensics and design issues of the failed levees most fascinating. The author lets the levee story break through in timed intervals and then in the last chapter all the facts come together. Well written, concise yet informative with little rancor but good reporting. Interesting poke, the author refers to the author of another best seller as a "Gonzo journalist" that went over the top in his book.
Summary: An Extraordinary, Heartbreaking and Enraging Work of Journalism
A remarkable page-turner, Jed Horne's "Breach of Faith" has all the elements of the best journalism: vivid reporting, thorough research, fully established human characters, and an ability to boil down a vast breadth of scientific and political detail in accessible and engaging prose.
What makes Horne's book so memorable is the detail. His descriptions of floating bodies beset by water moccasins or the harrowing scene at the Convention Center or the recovery efforts for weeks and months after the storm are simply horrifying. Much of what Horne describes - from the lethal incompetence and sclerotic bureaucracy of FEMA to unrivaled heroism of many heretofore unknown private citizens - rekindles alternating currents of anger and pride in the reader.
To be sure, the canvass on which Horne paints is broad, and the cast of characters for a fairly compact book is long, indeed. Obviously, there are the notable figures of Mayor Ray Nagin, Governor Kathleen Blanco and FEMA Director Michael Brown, but there is also a battery of Lower Ninth Ward residents, Uptown residents and French Quarter residents, firefighters, community activists, doctors, nurses, engineers, former public officials, politicians and others. There are also a number of smaller figures whose stories round out the coverage masterfully. One such figure is a lawyer from Massachusetts who, along with his wife, had been dropping his teenage son off to begin college at Loyola when Katrina struck. Horne's treatment of that lawyer's terrible experience, as well as the incorporation of a pseudo-diary that the lawyer kept throughout the storm and its aftermath, make for electrifying reading. Although it would seem at the outset that keeping track of so many figures would be difficult, Horne makes the characters so memorable - many of their stories so heartbreaking or enraging - that it's ultimately easy to pick up a given person even after a couple of chapters on a different subject.
Horne's chapters on the failure of the levees, and the potential negligence or criminality of the Army Corps of Engineers are excellent. The figure of Ivor Von Heerden, director of LSU's Hurricane Center, emerges in these chapters as an indefatigable seeker of what went wrong with the levees when, how and why. Later chapters on the effect of decades of corruption and cronyism at the various parish levee boards, coupled with the political efforts to merge those boards, do a nice job of showing how politicians in Louisiana have tried to turn around the lethal situation and rebuild. In particular, Governor Blanco emerges as a much more sympathetic and forward-thinking politician than she has been portrayed anywhere before, during or after the storm. Horne's treatment of Blanco is refreshing, if only because of the vicious smears she so often suffered during and immediately after the storm from the Republican noise machine that was so loudly trying to vindicate the Bush administration abysmal response.
In sum, Horne's book is likely to stand for a long time as the best account of the effects of Katrina, and is highly recommended reading.
Summary: puts you there
This is an amazing book. The author has interviewed a bunch of people from different backgrounds, and found out not just what happened to them but how they felt along the way, what things looked like from their perspective (rooftop, Dome, etc.). There are tons of great little details, like snakes and flying insects and a confused Fats Domino thinking he was playing a concert at the Dome, and a much-needed perspective on why this kind of thing was able to happen. The result feels almost like a novel, except that we know this stuff really happened.
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