While others were attempting to escape the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans Times-Picayune
metro editor Jeff Horne was wading into the story of this great
American catastrophe. With unflagging energy, the Pulitzer
Prize-winning journalist tracked the unfolding epic, from families
huddled on island rooftops and marauding looters to FEMA miscues and
missed opportunities. His richly detailed book brims with vivid
descriptions of individual rescue efforts and informed analyses of
bungled federal relief efforts.
The fact that New Orleans is still recovering from the
devastation brought upon it by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the fall of 2005
makes this audiobook all the more prescient. Tying together both personal
narratives and an official record, Horne provides an insightful yet
heartrending and critical account of the events. The anguish and frustration of
Horne's words are magnified in Andrew Barnes's soulful voice. Barnes's voice
also works well for the inspirational moments of this tragedy, of which there are
many.
Throughout the production, Barnes maintains impressive
energy and consistency with a rhythmic delivery that proves hypnotic. Horne's
words and Barnes's performance will certainly be moving to listeners.AudioFile, Feb/Mar 2008
Library Journal
The New Orleans Times-Picayune's staff (including metro
editor Horne) won Pulitzer Prizes for its coverage of Katrina. Such esteem is
deserved, as Horne here demonstrates. His on-the-ground narrative emphasizes
his ear for local idiom and his sharp eye for compelling detail. Although the
various scenes sometimes swirl around in a fashion less organized than Katrina
itself, Horne connects the horrors of the storm with relevant backstories very
effectively. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Agonizing, in-the-trenches retelling of Hurricane Katrina
and her catastrophic consequences. With masterful precision, Horne, metro
editor of New Orleans' Times-Picayune, offers an insider's tour through
each phase of the August 2005 disaster, from the storm's first churnings to the
final casualty toll, estimated at 1,100 (hundreds still remain missing nine
months later). The author's exhaustively comprehensive account is studded with
profiles of southeast Louisiana residents who survived the tempest (barely), despite an ambivalent city
bureaucracy that failed to gel in time to prevent the "collapse of social
order" after the levees broke.
Breach of Faith 