Hurricane Katrina shredded one of the great cities of the South, and as levees failed and the federal relief effort proved lethally incompetent, a ...
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Aug 16, 2009
Virginia
rated it: 
I'm fascinated with New Orleans, and feel like the response to hurricane Katrina was one of our country's poorest moments. I'm setting a good part of a novel in post-Katrina New Orleans, so I'm reading as much as I can of the disaster.
Horne's book is full of poignancy. The content is sad and horrific and devastating. However, he desperately needed an editor (or two or three). A journalist by trade, Horne seemed to find it necessary to completely cross the spectrum in this foray into More...
Horne's book is full of poignancy. The content is sad and horrific and devastating. However, he desperately needed an editor (or two or three). A journalist by trade, Horne seemed to find it necessary to completely cross the spectrum in this foray into More...
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Sep 09, 2010
Jenae
rated it: 
A fairly comprehensive story of:
a) How different people survived and coped (whether riding it out at home, in the dome/convention center, in nearby states, or thousands of miles away).
b) What happened before and after to create such a disaster:
-The engineering and maintenance faults that weakened the levees
-The political spin that bogged down much of the relief and rebuilding
-The lack of communication and abundance of alarmist media that painted the city in such an More...
a) How different people survived and coped (whether riding it out at home, in the dome/convention center, in nearby states, or thousands of miles away).
b) What happened before and after to create such a disaster:
-The engineering and maintenance faults that weakened the levees
-The political spin that bogged down much of the relief and rebuilding
-The lack of communication and abundance of alarmist media that painted the city in such an More...
Feb 05, 2009
Jed Horne, metro editor for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, uses his knowledge of the devastated area to his advantage. In Breach of Faith, he tells some compelling, important stories, despite the amount of coverage that Hurricane Katrina has received over the past year. While the book dutifully describes the events surrounding the disaster, Horne's journalistic skill works against him on occasion. He renders his scenes sharply, if sometimes without passion (as Ceci Connolly puts it, "I fou
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Jan 11, 2011
Coralie
rated it:
Jed Horne, a newspaper reporter, explores many issues surrounding Hurricane Katrina. He follows four or five families who lived in New Orleans, a few that made it out, a few who didn't, a few who returned to New Orleans and a few who chose to relocate. He discusses local, state and federal officials and the decisions they made before, during and after the storm. He also discusses the long and short term prognosis for the recovery of New Orleans. Another good book is "Rising Tide" b
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Jan 26, 2011
Nick
rated it: 
During my first visit to New Orleans I fell in love with the culture, especially the people. My perception of NOLA before this visit was that Bourbon Street was it's only attraction and that Katrina had flooded the entire city including the French Quarter. After talking to many different locals from many different walks of life - several cab drivers, shop owners, waiters, waitresses, bell hops, hotel staff, a young man standing in line (a long line) behind us to get coffee and a lady sitting o
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Aug 25, 2010
Erin
rated it:
I've recently become very very interested in learning about Hurricane Katrina especially the eye-witness accounts but also what happened to our government and why they failed so miserably. Breach of Faith was a good read on both accounts. I came away with a better understanding of the politics involved - Mayor Nagin's choice to wait before issuing a mandatory evacuation and why, Blanco's decisions and head butting with D.C. to allocate money, etc. I would be very interested in learning more abou
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Aug 21, 2011
Redsteve
rated it:
Really excellent. I'd give it a 5 except I'd it only covers the period up to just before the next hurricaine season after Katrina. I'd rather it ran further - at least to a full year after the Storm. I was also suprised that there was very little about the controversy surrounding the 1st post-Katrina Mardi Gras (which was a big deal at the time). So, instead of a "5", I'd have to give it a "4.5" if I was allowed to award half points. That being said, this is THE book about th
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May 15, 2008
Krenzel
rated it:
For many of us, watching the events following the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina unfold on our TV screens in August of 2005 was an eye-opening experience. The lasting images of Katrina victims on our TVs telling us of their misery and suffering, while the government seemingly did nothing to intervene, sparked national outrage. In all, Katrina left 1,100 people dead, damaged thousands of residences, crashed the city’s water and sewerage infrastructure, took out electricity and mail service for
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Jul 31, 2009
Marilyn
rated it:
I was attracted to this book because the author was a Times Picayune reporter and their coverage during Katrina was a award winning. The book did not disappoint. As expected it was a detailed account of what went wrong with plenty of blame to go around. However, what I loved most about it was the stories of ordinary people who were swept up in the storm and how the author wove these stories together. Amazing!
Sep 24, 2010
Doug
rated it:
The writing/reporting style was a little too fractured and non-linear for my liking, but the (true) stories themselves are harrowing and deeply discouraging, but not without hope. The preparedness and response of the Bush administrations FEMA was inexcusable, sinful really, and the human suffering detailed in this book makes that failure palpable. Good exploration (but no resolution) of the ultimate causes for the failure of emergency response, government control, and the levees themselves...u
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May 09, 2011
Kellie
rated it: 
Another book I could not finish. This was supposed to be an interesting account of Hurricane Katrina. I read a bunch of reviews on Amazon. One said “A concise, easy-to-follow insight that is unaffected, balanced and truthful.” So, I thought I was going to read a truthful, unbiased narrative about Hurricane Katrina and the people affected. Instead, I read someone’s opinion with political spin. I kept reading to page 231 hoping there was a shift in style, but there wasn’t. I’m tired of it.
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Sep 25, 2010
Tiffanie Z.
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I really liked this because I read it shortly after i moved to the New Orleans area, post-Katrina. It helped educate me on what happened and the local political football between the then Mayor and Governor.
Jan 18, 2012
Christopher
rated it:
A well-written account of Hurricane Katrina before, during and after the storm. It's very readable and is a good place to start for anyone who did not live through the devastation.
Feb 24, 2011
RUSA
rated it:
This was one of the 2007 RUSA Notable Books winners. For the complete list, go to http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/a...
Apr 15, 2009
Anita
rated it:
The first half of this book was a solid 4 to 4 1/2 stars, but then author Jed falls into a great big hole - a discussion of all of the politics swirling around the different individuals and agencies partly responsible for the disastrous aftermath of Katrina and/or working to solve the endless problems - and he doesn't climb back out until the very last chapter of the book. He closes by coming back around to his chronicling of the personal experiences of a dozen or so survivors. That is his stron
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Jul 30, 2009
Audrey
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I drove to Baton Rouge a week after Hurricane Katrina. I got to experience, first hand, the aftermath of an American Tragedy.
Jan 20, 2010
Connie
rated it:
Great retelling of Katrina from an insider's perspective. However, it's work to get through this one.
Mar 16, 2011
Bernie
rated it:
Great account about how different people survived and what actions were taken by others.
Jan 29, 2011
Tom
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Good first pass at telling what happened to New Orleans during and after Katrina
Apr 15, 2008
Carolyn
rated it:
After reading this book I finally feel like I have well-formed knowledge of what happened in New Orleans leading up to, and immediately after Katrina. Horne did an excellent job of presenting the events and cutting through all of the crap media spin and politics and just laying it all out there. His account is definitely the least biased that I have read so far, and at least to this reader, it felt like finally placing the blame where it was due. I would recommend this to anyone wanting a bet
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Mar 26, 2007
Shelley
rated it:
a great from the frontlines story about katrina and the havoc that followed. jed horne bases the book on over 2 dozen interviews and the stories that came from them, stories that span the wards of the city aa well as the various socio-economic, race, gender, and age groups that inhabited them. horne doesnt just tell the stories of new orlean's inhabitants, but he provides and in-depth (sometimes heavy) chronicle of the science behind the levee failures and a fairly low-bias critique of the pos
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Mar 31, 2010
Jane
rated it:
meh. it was pretty ok. listened to him read it on WRBH. didn't like his discussion of the mayor's "chocolate city" speech...sounded like a white male with his feelings hurt.
Dec 12, 2010
Jaime
rated it:
Hard to read---there is not a real sense of how it strings together, which is a shame, because it exposes some of the post-Katrina personalities and moments that shaped the present state of things in New Orleans. If you're studying Katrina, especially as a student, read it and be prepared to highlight and dogear. If you just want to understand Katrina from a human perspective, go to Chris Rose's 1 Dead in the Attic.
May 27, 2008
David
rated it:
Lots of blame to go around for this disaster - feds, state, local, mayor. First half is harrowing account of the storm's early stages; the latter is an analysis of the many things that went wrong. This book debunks many of the myths we have come to believe about Katrina and lays out very well the reason how the city survived the hurricane, only to be destroyed by a flood.
Oct 31, 2011
Laurel
rated it:
Interesting read that covered both the details of the devastation of Katrina and the fascinating political business behind the response.
Aug 20, 2010
Rosanne
rated it:
The book is engaging, and takes a look at the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina from all different angles - social, economic, political, scientific, etc. Definitely worth a read if you want to get smart on the subject. Watch out for all the dangling modifiers and other grammatical faux-pas... I found them to be very distracting in an otherwise well-written book.
Jan 08, 2010
Bank
rated it:
This is an incredibly good story of hurricanes , the city of new orleans , its history and decadence and addictive allure, katrina and fema, the politcs ; all in a eminently readable book.
And a scalding account of the response of local, state, and federal government to the collapse of this city and the death of its citizens
And a scalding account of the response of local, state, and federal government to the collapse of this city and the death of its citizens
Jan 16, 2012
Veronica
rated it:
I don't believe a book has ever made me as angry and outraged as this one. The government response to Katrina at all levels was appalling. From the police in the city to the President of the United States, there was incompetence, corruption and apathy. This one will stay with me for a while...
