There is No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster

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.

"Chester Hartman and Greg Squires should be commended for editing such a comprehensive,elegant collection of Hurricane Katrina related essays showcasing a top-flight cast of distinguishedscholars. There is No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster is a giant leap forward in our collectiveunderstanding of what went wrong in the Gulf South on August 29, 2005."--Douglas Brinkley, author of The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans,and the Mississippi Gulf Coast"There is No Such Thing As a Natural Disaster: The title tells you where this book is going, andthen the book takes you there. Of all the work on Katrina and on the suffering and courage of thepeople of New Orleans, this collection is by far the most informative, the most analytical, the mostradical, and the most useful. Combining detailed information from New Orleans with thoughtful andpractical analysis, Hartman and Squires have produced a casebook on structural racism and amanifesto for radical change. A must for classroom adoption!"--Howard Winant, author of The World is a Ghetto: Race and Democracy since World War II"Hurricane Katrina was a social disaster, and its catastrophic impact owes as much to entrenchedinequality and political neglect as to nature's wrath. This fine collection documents the racial,economic, and gender divisions that make extreme weather so much more dangerous than it shouldbe, and shows what's wrong with the current plans for rebuilding New Orleans and other devastatedcities nearby. It's a timely, engaging, and immediately useful book."--Eric Klinenberg, author of Heatwave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago"Taken together, these well-written essays highlight the immensity and complexity of the disaster and the challenges that lie ahead for the region. Highly recommended." -- M. Mulcahy, Loyola College in Maryland, Choice

• 1. Pre-Katrina, Post-Katrina 2. A Matter of Choice: Historical Lessons for Disaster Recovery 3. Oral History, Folklore, and Katrina 4. Towards a Transformative View of Race: The Crisis and Opportunity of Katrina 5. Abandoned Before the Storms: The Glaring Disaster of Gender, Race, and Class Disparities in the Gulf 6. Katrina and the Politics of Later Life 7. Where is Home? Housing for Low-Income People After the 2005 Hurricanes 8. Reclaiming New Orleans’ Working-Class Communities 9. A New Kind of Medical Disaster in the United States 10. Double Jeopardy: Public Education in New Orleans Before and After the Storm 11. An Old Economy for the ‘New’ New Orleans? Post-Hurricane Katrina Economic Development Efforts 12. From Poverty to Prosperity: The Critical Role of Financial Institutions 13. The Role of Local Organizing: House-to-House with Boots on the Ground 14. Rebuilding A Tortured Past or Creating A Model Future: The Limits and Potentials of Planning