Voices Rising

*Starred Review* In this astonishing collection of personal narratives, readers come face-to-face with the stark reality wrought by Hurricane Katina and the failure of the federal levees. Many books have been written about the tragedy, but the work done by University of New Orleans students to collect these survivors’ narratives in 2005 is groundbreaking. Every aspect of the post-Katrina New Orleans experience is present here, from areas as divergent as the I-10 overpass, the French Quarter, and shelters across the South. The rescuers and rescued have equal voices and share memories poignant and startling. Perhaps most revealing is the way evacuees were greeted elsewhere. From the Jefferson Parish deputies who were “very sinister” to people at the Oklahoma border who held signs of welcome, the reaction of various communities to the national nightmare is a snapshot of the country’s best and worst. Cutting, caustic, and riveting from start to finish, this collection does not shy away from presenting the agonies that often go unrecorded in the aftermath of a sudden disaster. Miles away from academic analysis, this is American social history from the ground up and staggering in its significance. --Colleen Mondor