Kai Erikson

Lori Peek

More than fifteen years later, Hurricane Katrina maintains a strong grip on the American imagination. The reason is not simply that Katrina was an event of enormous scale, although it certainly was by any measure one of the most damaging storms in American history. But, quite apart from its lethality and destructiveness, Katrina retains a place in living memory because it is one of the most telling disasters in our recent national experience, revealing important truths about our society and ourselves. The final volume in the award-winning Katrina Bookshelf series Higher Ground reflects upon what we have learned about Katrina and about America. Kai Erikson and Lori Peek expand our view of the disaster by assessing its ongoing impact on individual lives and across the wide-ranging geographies where displaced New Orleanians landed after the storm. Such an expanded view, the authors argue, is critical for understanding the human costs of catastrophe across time and space. Concluding with a broader examination of disasters in the years since Katrina—including COVID-19—The Continuing Storm is a sobering meditation on the duration of a catastrophe that continues to exact steep costs in human suffering.

Learning from Katrina

The Continuing Storm

William R. Freudenburg

Shirley Laska

Robert B. Gramling

When houses are flattened, towns submerged, and people stranded without electricity or even food, we attribute the suffering to “natural disasters” or “acts of God.” But what if they’re neither? What if we, as a society, are bringing these catastrophes on ourselves? That’s the provocative theory of Catastrophe in the Making, the first book to recognize Hurricane Katrina not as a “perfect storm,” but a tragedy of our own making—and one that could become commonplace. The authors, one a longtime New Orleans resident, argue that breached levees and sloppy emergency response are just the most obvious examples of government failure. The true problem is more deeply rooted and insidious, and stretches far beyond the Gulf Coast. Based on the false promise of widespread prosperity, communities across the U.S. have embraced all brands of “economic development” at all costs. In Louisiana, that meant development interests turning wetlands into shipping lanes. By replacing a natural buffer against storm surges with a 75-mile long, obsolete canal that cost hundreds of millions of dollars, they guided the hurricane into the heart of New Orleans and adjacent communities. The authors reveal why, despite their geographic differences, California and Missouri are building—quite literally—toward similar destruction. Too often, the U.S. “growth machine” generates wealth for a few and misery for many. Drawing lessons from the most expensive “natural” disaster in American history, Catastrophe in the Making shows why thoughtless development comes at a price we can ill afford.

The Engineering of Katrina and the Disasters of Tomorrow

Catastrophe in the Making

Kai T. Erikson uses the Puritan settlement in 17th-century Massachusetts as a setting in which to examine several ideas about deviant behavior in society. Combining sociology and history, the author draws on the records of the Bay Colony to illustrate the way in which deviant behavior fits in the texture of social life generally. The main argument of "Wayward Puritans" is that deviant forms of behavior are often a valuable resource in society, providing a point of contrast, which is necessary for the maintenance of a coherent social order. In a new Afterword, the author offers new conclusions, fresh insights, and noteworthy reflections on his work and its impact forty years after its original publication ""I keep coming back and coming back in my writing and teaching to WAYWARD PURITANS. Kai Erikson's deep appreciation of the ritual dimensions of social life remains a refreshing alternative to rational-choice reductionism. And for social scientists who have recently discovered 'symbolic boundaries, ' the idea was already here. My advice to each new cohort of aspiring social observers: read WAYWARD PURITANS."" Robert Wuthnow, Princeton University ""WAYWARD PURITANS is a true sociological classic. Kai Erikson has produced a brilliant theory of social deviance as well as one of the most remarkable attempts to identify boundaries as a critical sociological phenomenon. One of the most spectacular products of the Durkheimian tradition, this is sociology at its best."" Eviatar Zerubavel, Rutgers University ""Sociological classics speak to all people at all times about the social condition of humanity. For almost forty years, WAYWARD PURITANS has thrown light on that condition. In the new millennium we need that light, for our moral boundaries have shifted radically. Kai Erikson's classic helps explain those shifts, and, explaining them, relates the state of our society to our own moral dilemmas. It is a great book that speaks to us more loudly and clearly today than ever before."" Barry Schwartz, University of Georgia ""Boundary crises come in all flavors. This book describes both the Puritan instance and the general theory. Erikson came up with a fundamental discovery of human life. It's a great theory and a great book, as important now as when it first came out."" Albert J. Bergesen, University of Arizona

A Study in the Sociology of Deviance

Wayward Puritans

All of the essays are by authors whose sociological vision has had a profound impact on our culture.

Kai Erikson

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