cover image Deadly Indifference: The Perfect (Political) Storm: Hurricane Katrina, the Bush White House, and Beyond

Deadly Indifference: The Perfect (Political) Storm: Hurricane Katrina, the Bush White House, and Beyond

Michael D. Brown and Ted Schwarz. Taylor Trade, $24.95 (244p) ISBN 978-1-58979-485-6

The inside scoop on Katrina from former undersecretary of Homeland Security, famously called "Brownie" by George W. Bush, is no mea culpa, but rather a blast of blame aimed at numerous parties. Deadly indifference is indeed evident in the mishandling of the flood: poorly maintained levees broke, flooding much of the city, including the Superdome, a last-minute refugee center that was "never part of the initial planning." Brown indicts everyone from Bush to Donald Rumsfeld to local politicians, yet statements such as "the people in the Superdome often sounded like teenagers sitting around a campfire during an overnight camping trip, scaring themselves with ghost stories" show questionable judgment; he faults the media for not fact-checking stories, yet acknowledges the strain; "there is no time to double-check. There is likely no one available who wants to bother to correct errors with so much critical activity taking place." About horror stories of political interference, Brown comments, "It did not mater that the FEMA employee's time was being wasted by congressional representatives who had no power or influence". If they could look like leaders, they would be leaders..." Though at times Brown seems more concerned with his rep than a reckoning of Katrina, his account is informative and discouraging. Photos. (June)