Katrina: A History, 1915-2015

A history of the calamity of Hurricane Katrina, and the city of New Orleans itself of the span of a century, yes, but more than this, Horowitz's book is a work of political theory that uses history to demonstrate how disastrous the hollowing out of the state under neoliberalism has been for life in the United States. Between the hurricane of 1915 and the decade long recovery from 2005's Hurricane Katrina, the history of New Orleans was shaped by brutal racism and systematic oppression of blacks orchestrated by the interests of capital and the politicians in charge. By the time Hurricane Betsy struck the city in 1965 the geography of racial oppression (importantly, not just the geography of housing but the geography of resource distribution) meant that the storm was a devastating warning shot about the destruction such a status quo would allow to be wreaked. Instead of preparing for the next storm in any meaningful way, the political infrastructure of the State of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans was deteriorated under the regime of neoliberalism that began in the 1970s and continues to this day. Horowitz's book is a haunting and infuriating demonstration of the importance of state power and capacity.