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The Great Deluge (Abridged): Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast Audiobook
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(4.00) - 1,032 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
In the span of five violent hours on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed major Gulf Coast cities and flattened 150 miles of coastline. Yet those wind-torn hours represented only the first stage of the relentless triple tragedy that Katrina brought to the entire Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Mississippi to Alabama.
First was the hurricane, one of the three strongest ever to make landfall in the United States -- 150 mile per hour winds, with gusts measuring more than 180 miles per hour ripping buildings to pieces. Second, the storm-surge flooding, which submerged a half million homes, creating the largest refugee crisis since the Civil War. Eighty percent of New Orleans was under water, and whole towns in southeastern Louisiana ceased to exist. And third, the human tragedy of government mismanagement, which proved as cruel as the natural disaster itself.
In The Great Deluge, bestselling author Douglas Brinkley, a New Orleans resident and professor of history at Tulane University, rips the story of Katrina apart and relates what the category 3 hurricane was like from every point of view, while recognizing the true heroes.
Throughout the book, Brinkley lets the Katrina survivors tell their own stories, masterfully allowing them to record the nightmare that was Katrina. The Great Deluge investigates the failure of government at each level and breaks important new stories. Packed with interviews and original research, it traces the character flaws, inexperience, and ulterior motives that allowed the Katrina disaster to turn the Gulf Coast into a scene from a war movie or a third-world documentary.
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"I learned a lot from this long, well-researched, and very detailed book. I'm still shocked by the incompetence and brutality that accompanied the results of the hurricane. I thought the story line fell apart a little at the end, but the incredible amount of work Brinkley did to illuminate the few days before Katrina through 4 days afterward is definitely worth reading. Hopefully, we can all learn from this ugly part of American history to better prepare ourselves-- individually and bureaucratically-- for whatever calamities may befall us."
— Anastasia (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“The Great Deluge,’ captures the human toll of Katrina as graphically as the most vivid newspaper and television accounts.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“Written with verve and energy, this is Brinkley’s best book to date.”
— Times Picayune -
“More dispassionate and analytical books will be written about Katrina, few will capture the human drama as well as Brinkley’s.”
— Financial Times -
“The most evocative, soul-shaking account of the calamity.”
— New York Times -
“The writing soars…If journalism is history's first draft, then The Great Deluge is 1.5.”
— USA Today
Awards
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Winner of the 2007 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award
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A New York Times bestseller
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A 2007 Audie Award Finalist
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New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books for Fiction, 2006
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A 2006 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Nominee for Current Interest
The Great Deluge Listener Reviews
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" This was a great book. Brinkley details the failed government response to Katrina on all levels (federal, state, local) and describes in vivid detail what life was like after the storm. "
— Trish, 2/14/2014 -
" Everything you should know about this American tragedy -- the failure of geography, the failure of history, and the failure of the American government. "
— Eileen, 2/7/2014 -
" This is a great book on Katrina and I like Douglas Brinkley's work. "
— Rebecca, 1/20/2014 -
" A good book on the storm. It would have made me very upset if I hadn't seen it as it happened. One question, Did the FEMA convoy really get lost because the road signs were down and they didn't have GPS navigation devices?? "
— Karl, 1/13/2014 -
" I learned that we cannot depend on the "system" during a true emergency! "
— Stefani, 12/26/2013 -
" If you want "The Truth" from a respected historian, this is it. Reads like a thriller, but accurately and precisely documented "
— Hugh, 12/16/2013 -
" Very comprehensive overview of the disaster "
— Jeff, 11/11/2013 -
" Now THIS is an account of what went on during Kartina. "
— Sandra, 10/31/2013 -
" A great account of Hurricane Katrina "
— Peter, 7/19/2013 -
" DNF at 48%. "
— Cara, 7/8/2013 -
" had to read this one as my past includes several growing up years in New Orleans. This was such a tragedy "
— Maureen, 7/5/2013 -
" This is very insightful book about the Katrina ordeal. It blends in ordinary people with the political aspects. It is well balanced in the recounting of events and seems objective and factual. Its a slow read but intended to give me more of a true account of this horrific event "
— Heather, 5/28/2013 -
" As a native of New Orleans, reading this book was quite personal. It was an awesome book about what happened before, during and after Hurricane Katrina. WOW! A very good account. "
— Megan, 5/5/2013 -
" Read half. Will eventually finish when I get it back from Kristine. Anecdotal opposed to analytical. I was looking for the latter regarding Katrina, but the individual stories do knit together a pretty comprehensive idea of how and who this storm affected. "
— Sarah, 4/6/2013 -
" Comprehensive but workmanlike and maybe a bit too long "
— Matt, 5/19/2012 -
" Greatly enjoyed this depiction of the horrors of Katrina. Brinkley captures both the individual experience and the much bigger picture and synthesizes it all into a devastating account of the disaster, natural and man made. "
— Brad, 12/24/2011 -
" A must-read for all Americans "
— Michelle, 11/27/2011 -
" If you want to know where the local/state/national government failed during Hurricane Katrina, read this book. Brenden and I were fortunate enough to meet the author, Douglas Brinkley... a great historian who tells the story like it is without political bias. "
— Emy, 8/31/2011 -
" Fantastic detail, very readable although it is a monster. "
— Stasia, 5/26/2011 -
" Everything you should know about this American tragedy -- the failure of geography, the failure of history, and the failure of the American government. "
— Eileen, 3/20/2011 -
" It amazes me that this happened. And, boy, do I need to get an emergency kit together. "
— Amie, 1/12/2011 -
" Minute-by-minute account of a slow-motion train wreck, mainly caused by political and public service (think levee-board planning) failures in some cases over many decades. "
— Reid, 10/13/2010 -
" Awesome. This book was so intense. I felt like I was there. Intense!!! "
— Hannaheriley, 5/16/2010 -
" I learned just how badly broken our federal systems are when they are "supposed" to be there to help in times of need. I learned that politicians will say anything to make excuses for their craven behavior and shift the blame wherever they can. Brinkley is thorough and pulls no punches. "
— Mary, 5/3/2010 -
" Covers the events in the week starting with the Saturday before Katrina reached the Gulf Coast to the Saturday afterwards. Needs maps of New Orleans and Mississippi coast. Too many literary & popular culture references <br/> "
— Converse, 4/1/2010
About Douglas Brinkley
Douglas Brinkley is an acclaimed historian and award-winning author of many books, including six New York Times bestsellers. The Chicago Tribune dubbed him “America’s New Past Master.” His book The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast received the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. He was awarded a Grammy for Presidential Suite and his two-volume, annotated Nixon Tapes recently won the Arthur S. Link–Warren F. Kuehl Prize. Other awards he has won include the Frances K. Hutchison Medal, Robin W. Winks Award for Enhancing Public Understanding of National Parks, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Lifetime Heritage Award. He is the recipient of seven honorary doctorates in American studies.
About Kyf Brewer
Kyf Brewer, an Earphones Award–winning narrator, is an actor known for Serial Mom, Stop, Record, and Fallen Arches.