Clare Coulson basically said everything I was going to say. It's brilliant and I wish there were like seventeen more of these to read. :(

A depressing but thoughtfully written memoir about Katrina from the perspective of a native New Yorker who moved to NOLA to defend death row prisoners and ended up falling in love with the city, warts and all. The author does an excellent job of explaining the problems that plagued New Orleans even before the levees broke; it's shameful how bad it was and is for the many ignored Americans living in poverty.