Unnatural Disaster: The Nation on Hurricane Katrina

Here's another from the backlog...............Good chronology of what happened during Katrina.......Scott

One year ago this week, as Hurricane Katrina tore through the Gulf Coast, people across the country watched in horror. The scenes of destruction were bad enough, but the federal government's abdication of responsibility to the desperate citizens of New Orleans was impossible for many to forget--and to forgive. Ultimately, Katrina came to symbolize the combination of negligence, ineptitude, corruption and mendacity that has distinguished the administration of President Bush.

Each step of the way, online and in print, The Nation exposed the morally bankrupt policies and practices that compounded the costliest natural disaster in US history with a man-made crisis that continues to unfold. Unnatural Disaster: The Nation on Hurricane Katrina, published today by Nation Books, is a collection of the magazine's coverage of the storm and its aftermath.

Unnatural Disaster is not only a chronicle of what went wrong. It also highlights the pitched battle over reconstruction--in which ordinary citizens and grassroots groups have struggled mightily for a voice in their own future.

Featuring an original introduction by expatriate New Orleanian and political scientist Adolph Reed, Jr., the volume, edited by Nation executive editor Betsy Reed, includes essays, blog posts, web-only articles, and on-the-scene reporting by Naomi Klein, Jeremy Scahill, Christian Parenti, Mike Davis and Anthony Fontenot, Patricia J. Williams, Eric Alterman, Gary Younge, Alexander Cockburn, Robert Scheer, Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Eric Foner, Curtis Wilkie, Billy Sothern, Susan Straight, William Greider, Nicholas von Hoffman, Mark Hertsgaard, Max Blumenthal, Michael T. Klare, Tom Englehardt and Nick Turse, and many others.

An invaluable compendium narrating the key moments of this crucial historical episode, Unnatural Disaster showcases some of the best non-fiction writers in America today. Click here for info and to purchase copies online.

If you missed this past weekend's RadioNation with Laura Flanders live from New Orleans, you can still listen online to interviews from the People's Hurricane Relief Fund event. Broadcast each Saturday and Sunday from 7:00 to 10:00pm EST on the Air America Radio Network, RadioNation also produces a one-hour version, which is provided free to noncommercial community and college stations.

And check out The Nation's ActNow blog for ways you can help support relief efforts and organizing toward a just reconstruction.

Finally, please visit The Nation online to read new Nation blogs, to view newsfeed links updated each day, to see when Nation writers are appearing on TV and radio, to get info on nationwide activist campaigns, and to read exclusive online reports and special weekly selections from The Nation magazine!

Best Regards,
Peter Rothberg,
The Nation
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