Flood control is a national religion in the Netherlands. In 49 U.S. states, it’s Louisiana’s problem. —John McQuaid, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 13 November 2005 The whirlwind that swept through the American media after the devastation of New Orleans last August was hardly less ferocious than Hurricane Katrina itself. The Corps of Engineers was lambasted for [...]

Since the destruction in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina last August/September, I have pondered the strained links among cities, technologies, and catastrophes. In this I am probably like millions of other people. The only difference is that a few years ago I wrote a history of New Orleans’s relationship with the Mississippi. So, when Katrina [...]

Prologue: The Wyndham New Orleans Hotel, 19 January 2006, 6:30 p.m. Huge glass windows stretch from the eleventh floor reception area to the twelfth floor, where the ballroom is. It is the sixty-fifth annual meeting of the Association of Levee Boards of Louisiana. The association’s motto: “Without Flood Protection, Nothing Else Matters.” Behind me, the [...]