Dave Eggers on New Orleans

[kapeman]

For those of you unfamiliar with author Dave Eggers, I hope you will check him out. He becamse known for his early memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. His latest book- a work of non fiction is called Zeitoun.
It is the story of a resident of New Orleans coping with Katrina.

He recently gave an interview to Salon. Here is the link.

http://www.salon.com/books/int/2009/07/16/dave_eggers/index.html

[chrisjoseph]

Love Dave Eggers....I think he's doing a book signing in NOLA tonight....

[PaulC]

wow............

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"Zeitoun" is a story about the Bush administration's two most egregious policy disasters -- the War on Terror and the response to Hurricane Katrina -- as they collide with each other and come crashing down on one family. Eggers tells the story entirely from the perspective of Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun, although he says he has vigorously double-checked the facts and removed any inaccuracies from their accounts. At first, as a reader, I felt some resistance to this tactic -- could the Zeitouns possibly be as wholesome and all-American as Eggers depicts them? -- but the sheer momentum, emotional force and imagistic power of the narrative finally sweep such objections away.

Andrew O'Hehir:

"I can see why your writer's radar got lit up by this story -- the combination of Hurricane Katrina, the post-9/11 era and a Muslim family. It's kind of an amazing microcosm of the 21st century in America, isn't it?""

Author Dave Egger:

"Yeah, no kidding. You know, there's a new graphic novel called "A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge" by Josh Neufeld, and one of his protagonists is also Muslim-American. Their story, like that of the Vietnamese-American community in New Orleans, was a lot less told. And it's a legacy of the war on terror, this mentality that an overwhelming military response was the solution to a humanitarian crisis. It just felt like a real manifestation of the Bush years. FEMA was folded into Homeland Security and that became a disaster. And then, because of the military response and the perception that law and order was the first order of business, you had the suspension of pretty much all rights. Martial law was more or less enacted in New Orleans, and then you have one man who is just caught between all these lines, all these lumbering forces.

Zeitoun was among thousands of people who were doing "Katrina time" after the storm. There was a complete suspension of all legal processes and there were no hearings, no courts for months and months and not enough folks in the judicial system really seemed all that concerned about it. Some human-rights activists and some attorneys, but otherwise it seemed to be the cost of doing business. It really could have only happened at that time; 2005 was just the exact meeting place of the Bush-era philosophy towards law enforcement and incarceration, their philosophy toward habeas corpus and their neglect and indifference to the plight of New Orleanians."

[glinda]

wow. Sounds like a powerful story. Think I have another book to add to my reading list! I sure HOPE that the end of the Bush administration means that such events are much less likely to occur .... but I'm not so sure.....

[Apostrophe (')]

Love Dave Eggers....I think he's doing a book signing in NOLA tonight....

Same here. Have to check this one out for sure...

[Michelino]

Incredible. Thanks for posting this.


"It's unprecedented in American history, I think, this wide a suspension of habeas corpus. I don't think we've seen that since the Civil War."

What a the disgrace to every aspect of the American tradition: the constitution, the intent of this country's forefathers and the sacrifices across generations made in defense of our rights and liberty.

http://journeyintoamerica.wordpress.com/2009/03/16/muslim-imprisoned-during-rescue-of-katrina-victims/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOgLqUWnn5k