Catastrophe in the Making

The Engineering of Katrina and the Disasters of Tomorrow

William Freudenberg, Shirley Laska, Robert Gramling, Kai Erikson
Catastrophe in the MakingPublished: 09/08/2009
Publisher: Shearwater
224 p. 6 x 9
ISBN: 9781597266826
Hardcover: $26.96
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Biographies | Table Of Contents
When houses are flattened, towns submerged, and people stranded without electricity or even food, we attribute the suffering to “natural disasters” or “acts of God.” But what if hey’re neither? What if we, as a society, are bringing these catastrophes on ourselves?
 
That’s the provocative theory of Catastrophe in the Making, the first book to recognize Hurricane Katrina not as a “perfect storm,” but a tragedy of our own making—and one that could become commonplace.
 
The authors, one a longtime New Orleans resident, argue that breached levees and sloppy emergency response are just the most obvious examples of government failure. The true problem is more deeply rooted and insidious, and stretches far beyond the Gulf Coast.
 
Based on the false promise of widespread prosperity, communities across the U.S. have embraced all brands of “economic development” at all costs. In Louisiana, that meant development interests turning wetlands into shipping lanes. By replacing a natural buffer against storm surges with a 75-mile long, obsolete canal that cost hundreds of millions of dollars, they guided the hurricane into the heart of New Orleans and adjacent communities. The authors reveal why, despite their geographic differences, California and Missouri are building—quite literally—toward similar destruction.
 
Too often, the U.S. “growth machine” generates wealth for a few and misery for many. Drawing lessons from the most expensive “natural” disaster in American history, Catastrophe in the Making shows why thoughtless development comes at a price we can ill afford.
 

Biographies

William R. Freudenburg is professor of Environmental Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Robert Gramling is professor of Sociology and director of the Center for Socioeconomic Research at the University of Louisiana at Layayette. Shirley Laska is a professor of Sociology at the University of New Orleans and director of the Center for Hazards, Assessment, Response and Technology (CHART). Kai Erikson is professor emeritus of Sociology and American Studies at Yale University.
 

Table Of Contents

Prologue The First Days of Katrina
Chapter 1 A Mighty Storm Hits the Shore
Chapter 2 The Setting
Chapter 3 Slicing through the Swamps 
Chapter 4 The Growth Machine Comes to New Orleans
Chapter 5 A “Helpful Explosion” 
Chapter 6 The Collapse of Engineered Systems 
Chapter 7 The Loss of Natural Defenses 
Chapter 8 Critical for Economic Survival?
Chapter 9 The Axe in the Attic
Chapter 10 The End of an Error?
Endnotes
References
Acknowledgments
Index
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