That’s What I’m Talking About

Shortly after I mentioned “an idealized dream scenario wherein an alternative media outlet …could find somebody with specific expertise to dig into [the Katrina] story on short notice,” Slate posted an article on New Orleans’ environmental history, observing that “the sodden city has long placed itself in harm’s way, relying on uncertain artifice to protect it from unpredictable environs.”

Ari Kelman’s claim that “New Orleans’ dysfunctional relationship with its environment may make it the nation’s most improbable metropolis,” which was also the subject of his book, might get some argument from Los Angeles’ most persistent critic, Mike Davis. But the article is a smart and fresh introduction to the historical context–exactly the sort of thing I was looking for yesterday morning.

Meanwhile, Davis seems awfully busy these days himself, contemplating Dubai and the avian flu. But don’t be surprised if he turns up at some lefty policy journal by the end of the year talking about the institutional failures that made this disaster a lot worse than it could have been.

1 September 2005 | uncategorized |