Seeking Higher Ground

Hurricane Katrina of August-September 2005, one of the most destructive natural disasters in U.S. history, dramatically illustrated the continuing racial and class inequalities of America. In this powerful reader, Seeking Higher Ground, prominent scholars and writers examine the racial impact of the disaster and the failure of governmental, corporate and private agencies to respond to the plight of the New Orleans black community. Contributing authors include Julianne Malveaux, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Ronald Walters, Chester Hartman, Gregory D. Squires, Mindy Thompson Fullilove, Alan Stein, and Gene Preuss. This reader is the second volume of the Souls Critical Black Studies Series, edited by Manning Marable, and produced by the institute for Research in African-American Studies of Columbia University.

"Seeking Higher Ground thoroughly examines every angle of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, and offers smart, damning critiques of how individual and societal prejudice turned a natural disaster into a man-made catastrophe. After more than two years, this book reminds us of all the work still left to be done." - Donna Brazile,

"This marvelous book is the most comprehensive and insightful examination of the most catastrophic event in recent American history." - Cornel West, Class of 1943 University Professor of African American Studies, Princeton University