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bookhoarding's review
5.0
As I was completing this book, in September of 2013, I was still seeing headlines about the continuing issues caused by Katrina. What Wolff has done is present a chronology of the post-Katrina community that we so rarely get a long-term glimpse at. Written in journalistic style, we are the fly on the wall as various families attempt to rebuild, encounter constant denial from the government and seek neo-liberal means to rebuild.
The book starts off looking at a group of men, ex-addicts, that have formed a group in solidarity in order to keep the area safe and get people what they need. I found this a particularly apt way to start a book about a drawn-out recovery. The recovery narrative in this story may not be centered around addiction, but it follows the same path, the continuous back-and-forth, moments of hope, moments of despair, but with an ever present humanity.
I was reminded of Angela Garcia's observations in The Pastoral Clinic about the environment shaping the lives of those within it. Wolff provides us with vivid, haunting descriptions of the landscape over the years, with very little truly changing from the first to the last entries. The air of destruction and neglect lingers on each page, which makes the comments by the residents so much more profound. How can you see the "home" in a completely ruined environment? How is there still room for a future when even the government sees the situation as impossible?
Though the last entry was from 2011, we can see that there are, and will be, continued repercussions from the poor-handling (or non-handling, really) of the aftermath. The books focus is really the spirit of those that returned to reclaim what was once home, but it touches on so many issues that are closely tied to the overall rebuilding effort; economics, racism, politics, corruption, ignorance. Wolff intersperses conversations with hard facts, but I felt it was never heavy-handed. Instead of showcasing how New Orleans fit into the national agenda we see the paying out of politics from the perspective of those on the ground, those that are living in toxic FEMA trailers, illegally sleeping in their own homes or are just trying to make it day-to-day.
Read this for a long-term look at the rebuilding efforts from a journalistic perspective. I would also recommend this to social science students who need long-term studies to refer to. Though this is not written from an anthropological perspective I would argue it carries a lot of emotional weight and observations that would be able to speak to pieces traditionally taught in college courses.
Thanks for the free copy Bloomsbury!
The book starts off looking at a group of men, ex-addicts, that have formed a group in solidarity in order to keep the area safe and get people what they need. I found this a particularly apt way to start a book about a drawn-out recovery. The recovery narrative in this story may not be centered around addiction, but it follows the same path, the continuous back-and-forth, moments of hope, moments of despair, but with an ever present humanity.
I was reminded of Angela Garcia's observations in The Pastoral Clinic about the environment shaping the lives of those within it. Wolff provides us with vivid, haunting descriptions of the landscape over the years, with very little truly changing from the first to the last entries. The air of destruction and neglect lingers on each page, which makes the comments by the residents so much more profound. How can you see the "home" in a completely ruined environment? How is there still room for a future when even the government sees the situation as impossible?
Though the last entry was from 2011, we can see that there are, and will be, continued repercussions from the poor-handling (or non-handling, really) of the aftermath. The books focus is really the spirit of those that returned to reclaim what was once home, but it touches on so many issues that are closely tied to the overall rebuilding effort; economics, racism, politics, corruption, ignorance. Wolff intersperses conversations with hard facts, but I felt it was never heavy-handed. Instead of showcasing how New Orleans fit into the national agenda we see the paying out of politics from the perspective of those on the ground, those that are living in toxic FEMA trailers, illegally sleeping in their own homes or are just trying to make it day-to-day.
Read this for a long-term look at the rebuilding efforts from a journalistic perspective. I would also recommend this to social science students who need long-term studies to refer to. Though this is not written from an anthropological perspective I would argue it carries a lot of emotional weight and observations that would be able to speak to pieces traditionally taught in college courses.
Thanks for the free copy Bloomsbury!
kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review
5.0
Disclaimer: I received an ARC via Netgalley.
Daniel Wolff’s The Fight for Home follows various people in the lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans as they try to return and rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. Both heart-breaking and inspiring, the book’s over-arching themes are the failure of federal, state, and local governments in the response to the storm and to work together to aid those most affected by the hurricane; and the determination of those same residents to “fight for home”. The people Wolff focuses on are “everyday” people. Any reader will know a version at least one those New Orleans residents, if not more.
While the book does not portray the various levels of government in a positive light, it is not partisan in this respect. This tone is set at the beginning with the introduction of Pastor Mel, a man who voted for Bush twice, and who is angry at both Bush and Nagin in the Hurricane’s aftermath. Pastor Mel further illustrates how both federal and local government disappointed the residents in different ways. He is angry at Bush for one reason and Nagin for another. While the failures of FEMA are pointed out, so are the failures in the rebuilding plans of the local New Orleans government as well as the cash hand-outs controlled by the state government. The truth of government as more than one level and politician parties as diverse is further enhanced by the story of Common Ground, a group founded by Malik, a former Black Panther. Suncere, a long time member of the group, notes that, to his surprise, he found local Republicans more willing to aid him than local liberals.
If Wolff shows how the levels of government failed to communicate and mismanaged the rebuilding in different ways, he also illustrates how citizens stepped in. One of the more interesting and hopeful stories is that of the friendship that develops between Suncere, who has a tattoo of Africa on his face, and Mike, a grandfather who flies a Confederate Flag over his ruined home. It is a friendship that seems to exhibit the racial mixture that New Orleans was and should be, that American itself should be, an idea discussed both by Pastor Mel in his critique of Nagin, and by a Carolyn, a woman who was told by various people that she died in the storm, and who uses her home cooking to illustrate her point about race and community. That scene is one of the best in the book. It is absolutely beautiful. This idea of community coming together and of learning from each other is juxtaposed with the racial history of New Orleans. Wolff give the reader the history of how the neighborhoods developed as well as the fact that some schools (and streets) still carry the names of politicians who supported Segregation. The people he follows have also fought against racism, Carolyn and Pastor Mel’s parents have stories of the Civil Rights Era to tell. Malik points out that while he gets called an Uncle Tom because of the vast number of white college volunteers in Common Ground, if the group had been pre-dominantly African-American, they would have been shot at by the National Guard and police. Wolff’s description of rebuilding after the hurricane shows a city that seems to be returning to segregation as a result of the re-building efforts of the various political groups.
The story of Carolyn showcases what is the best and the worst of the rebuilding efforts after the Hurricane. Carolyn is a woman that could be anyone’s grandmother. Wolff describes her in such a way that she would be the life of any party. You want to invite her over for a barbeque. She waits and waits. She waits in a FEMA trailer after waiting for a FEMA trailer. She waits for money from the state. She waits for the DA to sue the contractor who robbed her. She finally gets help from a local historical district plan as well as community groups. This is a woman who deserves more than she what she got, though she is such a lady, a tough cookie, that she doesn’t complain. Carolyn’s daughter, Kyrah, illustrates the struggle people faced after the storm. She struggles for her education, disrupted by the storm, she and her brother struggle to find work, to get out. Katrina did more than wreck homes and destroys families; it destroyed futures in less obvious ways.
If Carolyn’s children have a future at risk, they are balanced by Pastor Mel who has been there. A onetime drug addict who became clean, Pastor Mel gives back to the community. He runs a drug recovery ministry, a group that was one of the first to help residents after Katrina, working long before the federal government arrived. Pastor Mel takes the reader to the homeless but also the house of his parents, a rebuilt family home. Pastor Mel is determined to make a difference, and he does not blow his own horn. He thinks, he speaks, he works with and though the government when he can. Like Carolyn, he is someone you would like to meet.
Wolff’s writing captures not only the city, but the people. The ARC didn’t have any pictures, but a reader doesn’t need them. Wolff describes in terms of showing. The people are presented in such a way that their speech and mannerism convey who they are. Knowing that Suncere named his red pickup truck Harriet Tubman tells the reader far more than any picture could.
I don’t have the knowledge, experience, or background to comment on how this book would tie into urban development, sociology, or history classes. I can’t say if Wolff truly captures the disintegration, de-radicalization, and the success or failure of Common Ground. I teach reading and writing, and this book is ideal for a reading class. Not only does Wolff cover the issues of New Orleans but he ties those issues into the larger American picture, in particular with education and the rise of Charter schools. There are issues about race, society, and history in these pages. The book engages the reader emotionally and intellectually. You want to discuss this book with people. Such a book should required reading for everyone in the country.
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