Product Description

This is the first comprehensive book on the catastrophic impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans. It covers race and class, housing and redevelopment, the past history of urban disasters and the future of economic development in the region.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #164671 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 328 pages

From the Back Cover

There is No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster is the first comprehensive critical book on the catastrophic impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans.  The disaster will go down in record as one of the worst in American history, not least because of the government’s inept and cavalier response.  But it’s also a huge story for other reasons.  The impact of the hurricane was uneven, and race and class were deeply implicated in the unevenness. It was not by accident that the poorest and blackest neighborhoods were the ones that were buried under water.  Also, the response underscored the impoverishment of social policy -- or what passes for it -- in George W. Bush’s America.  Finally, New Orleans is not just any place – it’s a great American city with a rich history.  What happened there can tell us a great deal about the state of urban and regional planning in contemporary America.

Chester Hartman and Gregory D. Squires have assembled two dozen critical scholars and activists who present a multifaceted portrait of the social implications of the disaster. And the disaster was primarily social in nature, as the title reminds us.  The book covers the response to the disaster and the roles that race and class played, its impact on housing and redevelopment, the historical context of urban disasters in America and the future of economic development in the region.  It offers a critical and comprehensive social portrait of one of the worst American catastrophes of our times.

There is No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster

• Delineates the population groups - racial minorities, low-income communities,

women, the elderly - who were most adversely affected by the storms.

• Examines the impact on key institutions in the region including public schools,

health care providers, and private industry.

• Offers strategic guidance for key actors - government agencies, financial

institutions, neighborhood organizations - in  efforts to rebuild shattered

communities.

Contributors include:

Mary Frances Berry • Michael Casserly • Sheila Crowley • Evangeline (Vangy) Franklin • Margaret Morganroth Gullette • Brian Gumm • Heidi Hartmann • Hasan Kwame Jeffries • Avis Jones-DeWeever • Beulah Labostrie • Jane Malone • Peter Marcuse • Daniel W. Newhart • john a. powell • Michael Powers • Gene B. Preuss • Wade Rathke • Ralph Scott • Josh Silver • Alan H. Stein • Eric Stiens • John Taylor • Robert K. Whelan • Robert O. Zdenek

About the Author
Chester Hartman, an urban planner and author, is Director of Research of the Poverty & Race Research Action Council in Washington, DC.

Gary Squires is Professor and Chair of the Sociology Department at George Washington University.