by Dan Baum
INTERVIEWS
Following is a list of the interviews used to re-create each of the nine lives. Some are assigned to more than one character because they touched on the lives of more than one. Some of these sources would be unknown to the character to which they’re assigned. Billy Grace, for example, doesn’t know Ellis Joubert or Juan Parke, and they didn’t speak directly about Billy Grace. But they helped me understand the uptown New Orleans milieu in which Billy Grace’s life is set. Similarly, Tim Bruneau doesn’t know the New York police officials Timothy Pearson and Steve Haynes or they him, but they gave me a perspective on the NOPD that aided me in telling his story. I didn’t discuss Ronald Lewis by name with Greta Gladney, Tanya Harris, or Joe Ringo, but they helped me understand the Lower Ninth Ward, and so on. Interviews that were not specifically about a primary character are indicated in italics.
Tim Bruneau
Tim Bruneau: Oct. 5, 2005; Oct. 6, 2005; Oct. 7, 2005; Oct. 8, 2005; Oct. 11, 2005; Nov. 30, 2005 (by phone); Jan. 26, 2007; April 4, 2007 (long e-mail); Jan. 30, 2008 (long e-mail); March 12, 2008 (by phone)
Darryl Albert: Sept. 2, 2005; May 24, 2007
Peter Amato: Sept. 28, 2005
Alan Bartholomew: Dec. 3, 2005 (by phone)
Tim Bayard: Nov. 16, 2005; Dec. 12, 2005
David Benelli: Nov. 17, 2005
Ryan Beyer: Sept. 28, 2005
Brad Bohanna: Sept. 28, 2005
Aaron Broussard: Sept. 29, 2005
James Brown: March 29, 2007; May 4, 2007
Jeffrey Brumberger: Sept. 9, 2005
Bertrand Butler: Oct. 9, 2005; Nov. 16, 2005; April 6, 2007
Anthony Cannatella: Sept. 8, 2005; Oct. 5, 2005; Oct. 11, 2005; Oct. 14, 2005; April 2, 2007
John Casbon: Oct. 5, 2005; Dec. 17, 2005
Jim Chesnutt: Sept. 7, 2005
Jamie Cohen: Oct. 7, 2005; Oct. 8, 2005
Edwin Compass: Sept. 9, 2005; Dec. 20, 2005 (by phone)
Manuel Curry: Oct. 5, 2005
Chad Darbonne: Sept. 7, 2005
Phil Davis: Oct. 5, 2005
Marlon Defilo: Oct. 11, 2005; Nov. 1, 2005; Nov. 17, 2005
Gus Deruise: Nov. 16, 2005
Vincent Drake: Oct. 12, 2005
Perry Emory: Oct. 11, 2005
Russell Filibert: Oct. 11, 2005
Kristie Floret: Dec. 1, 2005 (by phone)
Sally Forman: Dec. 19, 2005 (by phone)
Kristie Harper: Oct. 5, 2005; Oct. 11, 2005
Steve Haynes: Sept. 29, 2005
Edwin Hosli: Sept. 2, 2005; Oct. 13, 2005
Mary Howell: Oct. 5, 2005 (by phone); Nov. 1, 2005
Jason Jackson: Sept. 7, 2005
Ed Johnson: Oct. 12, 2005
Bruce Jones: Sept. 23, 2005; Nov. 30, 2005 (by phone)
Barbara Lacen: Oct. 14, 2005
Jim Letten: Oct. 10, 2005
Felix Loicano: Nov. 17, 2005
Paul Long: March 1, 2007
Troy Lyles: Nov. 17, 2005
Michael Melton: Nov. 17, 2005
Ray Nagin: Nov. 1, 2005; Feb. 21, 2006
David Parker: Sept. 23, 2005
Timothy Pearson: Sept. 29, 2005
Richard J. Pennington: Nov. 18, 2005
Carl Perilloux: Oct. 5, 2005; Dec. 1, 2005 (by phone)
Tony Radosti: Oct. 11, 2005
Sabrina Richardson: Oct. 5, 2005
Warren Riley: Sept. 8, 2005; Nov. 17, 2005
Peter Scharf: Nov. 1, 2005
Doug Stead: Oct. 5, 2005; Nov. 29, 2005
Joe Valiente: Oct. 12, 2005; Oct. 14, 2005
Kim Williams: Nov. 16, 2005
Melvin Williams: Oct. 7, 2005; Oct. 8, 2005; Oct. 11, 2005
Frank Young: Oct. 6, 2005; Oct. 11, 2005; Nov. 18, 2005 (by phone)
Billy Grace
Billy Grace: Oct. 12, 2005; Feb. 19, 2007; March 22, 2007; March 29, 2007; April 13, 2007; April 15, 2007; May 10, 2007; July 14, 2007 (long e-mail); Sept. 7, 2007 (by phone); Dec. 21, 2007; Dec. 25, 2007; Feb. 27, 2008
Hershel Abbott: Jan. 17, 2006 (by phone)
Boysie Bollinger: Nov. 1, 2005; Jan. 28, 2006
Jane Ettinger Booth: Oct. 13, 2005; May 18, 2007
John Charbonnet: April 12, 2007; May 15, 2007
Chick Ciccarelli: Feb. 15, 2006
Pierre DeGruy: Nov. 18, 2007 (by phone)
Brooke Duncan: March 30, 2007; April 12, 2007
Ron Forman: May 9, 2007
Anne Grace: May 27, 2007
Janet Howard: Jan. 25, 2006; April 26, 2007
Hans Johannsen: Sept. 28, 2005
Ellis Joubert: Sept. 23, 2005; Jan. 28, 2006
Pres Kabacoff: Jan. 24, 2006
Michael Kearney: May 16, 2007
Nicholas Lehmann: April 9, 2007 (by phone)
Thomas Lehmann: April 18, 2007
Jonathan McCall: Oct. 12, 2005
Anne Milling: April 26, 2007
Marc Morial: April 16, 2007
Skip O’Connor: Sept. 28, 2005
Dan Packer: Jan. 25, 2006
Juan Parke: Sept. 23, 2005
Sean Reilly: Jan. 30, 2006; May 22, 2006 (by phone)
Timothy Reily: Oct. 12, 2005; Oct. 13, 2005
James Reiss: March 3, 2008
Robbie Robinson: Sept. 23, 2005
Bob Rue: Sept. 9, 2005; Sept. 23, 2005; Jan. 28, 2006
Gordon Russell: April 20, 2007
Bill Ryan: Sept. 28, 2005
Rebecca Snedeker: May 22, 2007
Doug Thornton: Oct. 12, 2005 (by phone)
Robert Walmsley: Oct. 12, 2005
JoAnn Guidos
JoAnn Guidos: Sept. 3, 2005; Sept. 4, 2005; Sept. 5, 2005; Feb. 6, 2007; Feb. 12, 2007; March 18, 2007; March 22, 2007; March 27, 2007; April 26, 2007; May 6, 2007; Feb. 28, 2008; March 1, 2008
Phoebe Au: Sept. 3, 2005
Barbara Brodmyer: Sept. 3, 2005; Sept. 4, 2005; Sept. 5, 2005
James Craddox: Sept. 5, 2005
Kenny Dobbs: Sept. 3, 2005; Sept. 4, 2005; Sept. 5, 2005
Paul Fischer: May 20, 2007
Paul Guidos: March 27, 2007
Sandy Guidos: March 27, 2007
Donnie Jay: April 5, 2007
Chris Jungles: Sept. 3, 2005; Sept. 4, 2005; Sept. 5, 2005
Kathy Lehrmann: March 21, 2007
Marci Marcell: April 26, 2007
Sean McDonald: Sept. 3, 2005; Sept. 4, 2005; Sept. 5, 2005; Sept. 10, 2005
Renée de Ponthieux: Sept. 3, 2005; Sept. 4, 2005; Sept. 5, 2005
Kathy Sartalamacchia: Dec. 16, 2007
Roney Sartalamacchia: Dec. 16, 2007
Larry Stann: Sept. 3, 2005
Ronald Lewis
Ronald Lewis: Jan. 26, 2006; Feb. 28, 2006; April 6, 2006; April 30, 2006 (by phone); June 18, 2006; Feb. 6, 2007; Feb. 16, 2007; Feb. 28, 2007; March 13, 2007; April 3, 2007; April 11, 2007; May 25, 2007; July 25, 2007; Dec. 25, 2007; Dec. 29, 2007; Feb. 26, 2008
Pete Alexander: March 16, 2007; April 10, 2007
James Brown: March 29, 2007; May 4, 2007
Willie Calhoun: Jan. 20, 2006 (by phone); Jan. 26, 2006 (by phone); Jan. 30, 2006
Pam Dashiell: Jan. 30, 2006
Elizabeth English: Jan. 29, 2006
Dan Etheridge: April 2, 2007
Sylvester Francis: Nov. 16, 2005
Greta Gladney: Jan. 25, 2006; Feb. 21, 2006
L. J. Goldstein: Oct. 8, 2005; March 29, 2007; Jan. 2, 2006 (by phone)
Walter Goodwin: March 14, 2007
Tanya Harris: Jan. 24, 2006
Steve Inskeep: April 3, 2007
Edgar Jacobs: March 27, 2007
Michael Kearney: May 16, 2007
Charmaine Marchand: Jan. 24, 2006
Wynton Marsalis: Jan. 16, 2006
Louis Mayer Jr.: March 10, 2007
Michael Mizell-Nelson: April 10, 2007
Michael Morris: April 11, 2007
Frank Nettles: March 17, 2007
Ernest Penns: May 21, 2006
Ted Quant: May 15, 2007
Helen
Regis: Oct. 8, 2005; Jan. 25, 2006
Patrick Rhodes: March 28, 2007
Joe Ringo: Jan. 24, 2006
Cynthia Smith: April 10, 2007
Brian Thevenot: May 13, 2006
Joe Valiente: Oct. 12, 2005; Oct. 14, 2005
Jimmy Zansler: May 5, 2007
Frank Minyard
Frank Minyard: Feb. 27, 2006; Feb. 15, 2007; March 1, 2007; March 13, 2007; April 16, 2007; April 23, 2007; May 16, 2007; May 21, 2007; May 25, 2007; Dec. 20, 2007; Feb. 28, 2008
Anne Birnbaum: Jan. 22, 2007
James Brown: March 29, 2007; May 4, 2007
Emelie Frazier: May 25, 2007
Bob French: April 3, 2007
Mary Howell: Oct. 5, 2005 (by phone); Feb. 13, 2007; April 24, 2007
Joe Maumus: May 24, 2007
Ricky Monie: May 4, 2007
Joe Radosta: March 21, 2007
Chuck Smith: Jan. 22, 2007
Edgar Smith: May 28, 2007
Corinne Stern: Oct. 9, 2007 (by phone)
Joyce Montana
Joyce Montana: March 12, 2007; March 19, 2007; April 3, 2007; April 5, 2007; April 18, 2007; April 24, 2007; May 15, 2007
Charles Andrews: Dec. 19, 2007
Diane Baker: April 7, 2007
Drex Brumfield: Feb. 15, 2006
Bertrand Butler: Oct. 9, 2005; Nov. 16, 2005; April 6, 2007
Anthony Cannatella: Oct. 14, 2005
L. J. Goldstein: Oct. 8, 2005; March 29, 2007
Sandra Gordon: March 1, 2007
Arnold Hirsch: Jan. 26, 2006
Mary Howell: Oct. 5, 2005 (by phone)
Alfred Hughes: Feb. 24, 2006; April 17, 2007
Barbara Lacen: Oct. 14, 2005
Jerome LeDoux: May 27, 2007
Maurice Martinez: Jan. 10, 2008
Darryl Montana: May 9, 2007
Helen Regis: Oct. 8, 2005
Joe Simon: April 17, 2007
Michael Valentino: April 4, 2007
Joe Valiente: Oct. 12, 2005; Oct. 14, 2005
Wilbert Rawlins Jr.
Wilbert Rawlins Jr.: Feb. 13, 2007; Feb. 26, 2007; March 6, 2007; March 9, 2007; March 14, 2007; March 20, 2007; April 5, 2007; April 19, 2007; May 7, 2007; May 16, 2007; May 26, 2007; Dec. 17, 2007; Dec. 25, 2007; Feb. 28, 2008; April 7, 2008
Carl Collins: May 27, 2007
Dwayne Davis: March 4, 2008
Brandon Franklin: Feb. 22, 2007
David Freedman: Jan. 4, 2006 (by phone); Jan. 27, 2006
Walter Goodwin: March 14, 2007
Isaac Greggs: March 2, 2007
Walter Harris: May 23, 2007
Darla Henry: Feb. 19, 2007
Theodore Jackson: March 20, 2007
Mary Laurie: April 16, 2007
Belinda Rawlins: Feb. 26, 2007; April 5, 2007; May 11, 2007; May 16, 2007; May 22, 2007; Dec. 25, 2007; Feb. 28, 2008; April 7, 2008
Joyce Rawlins: March 19, 2007
Mike Ricks: Feb. 17, 2007
Brian Riedlinger: March 27, 2007
Nyja Sanders: March 20, 2007
Irma Thomas: March 12, 2008 (by phone)
Tracie Towns: May 23, 2007
Belinda Rawlins
Belinda Rawlins: Feb. 26, 2007; April 5, 2007; May 11, 2007; May 16, 2007; May 22, 2007; Dec. 25, 2007; Feb. 28, 2008; April 7, 2008
Willie Calhoun: Jan. 20, 2006 (by phone); Jan. 26, 2006 (by phone); Jan. 30, 2006
Carl Collins: May 27, 2007
Pam Dashiell: Jan. 30, 2006
Tanya Harris: Jan. 24, 2006
Joyce Rawlins: March 19, 2007
Joe Ringo: Jan. 24, 2006
Anthony Wells
Anthony Wells: Sept. 8, 2005; Sept. 10, 2005; Jan. 19, 2006 (by phone); March 8, 2006; Oct. 27, 2006 (by phone); March 23, 2007; March 24, 2007; March 25, 2007; March 26, 2007; March 5, 2008
Lavoris Bailey: Feb. 8, 2006
Detra Dowdell Bartholomew: Jan. 19, 2006 (by phone)
Joseph Boschert: Sept. 10, 2005
Robert Buswell: March 7, 2006; March 8, 2006
Jackie Campbell: Sept. 8, 2005
Samuella Cosey: March 9, 2006
Rayfield Davis: March 8, 2006
Paul Harbin: March 8, 2006
Bill Haslam: March 9, 2006
Barbara Kelly: March 7, 2006; March 10, 2006
Parinda Khatri: March 10, 2006
Migo Mitchell: March 8, 2006
Donald Monroe: Feb. 11, 2007
Jerry Monroe: April 25, 2007
Robin Morgan: Sept. 8, 2005
Jerry Owen: Sept. 9, 2005
Charles Owensby: March 8, 2006
Diosdado Penelber: March 9, 2006
Mike Ragsdale: March 9, 2006
Andy Rittenhouse: March 8, 2006
David Ruiz: Sept. 8, 2005
Dale Snapp: Sept. 10, 2005; Feb. 8, 2006 (by phone)
Marvin Wells: Oct. 27, 2006 (by phone)
Roger Wells: Sept. 8, 2005; Sept. 10, 2005; Jan. 9, 2006 (by phone); March 8, 2006; Oct. 27, 2006 (by phone); March 23, 2007; March 24, 2007; March 25, 2007; March 26, 2007
Teranika Wells: Feb. 8, 2006
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Baker, Liva, The Second Battle of New Orleans: The Hundred-Year Struggle to Integrate the Schools (New York: Harper-Collins, 1996)
Barry, John M., Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America (New York: Touchstone, 1997)
Benischek, Brad, Revacuation (New Orleans: Press Street, 2007)
Brinkley, Douglas, The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast (New York: William Morrow, 2006)
Campanella, Richard, Time and Place in New Orleans (Gretna: Pelican Publishing Company, 2002)
Chase, John, Frenchmen, Desire, Good Children … and Other Streets of New Orleans! (Gretna: Pelican Publishing Company, 2004)
C-Murder, Death Around the Corner (New York: Vibe Street Lit, 2007)
Cooper, Christopher, and Robert Block, Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security (New York: Times Books, 2006)
Dyson, Michael Eric, Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security (New York: Basic Books, 2006)
Eckstein, Barbara, Sustaining New Orleans: Literature, Local Memory, and the Fate of a City (New York: Routledge, 2006)
Forman, Sally, Eye of the Storm: Inside City Hall During Katrina (Bloomington: Authorhouse, 2007)
Germany, Kent B., New Orleans After the Promise: Poverty, Citizenship, and the Search for the Great Society (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2007)
Gill, James, Lords of Misrule: Mardi Gras and the Politics of Race in New Orleans (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1997)
Hanger, Kimberly S., Bounded Lives, Bounded Places: Free Black Society in Colonial New Orleans, 1769–1803 (Durham: Duke University Press, 2007)
Hardy, Arthur, Mardi Gras in New Orleans: An Illustrated History (Mandeville: Arthur Hardy Enterprises, 2007)
Hartman, Chester, and Gregory D. Squires, eds., There Is No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster: Race, Class, and Hurricane Katrina (New York: Routledge, 2006)
Hirsch, Arnold R., and Joseph Logsdon, Creole New Orleans: Race and Americanization (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1992)
Horne, Jed, Desire Street: A True Story of Death and Deliverance in New Orleans (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005)
Jackson, Waukesha, What Would the World Be Without Women: Stories from the Ninth Ward (New Orleans: Neighborhood Story Project, 2005)
Johnson, Walter, Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999)
Kelley, Joseph T.; Kelley, Alice R.; Pilkey, Orrin H. Sr.; Clark, Albert A., Living with the Louisiana Shore (Durham: Duke University Press, 1994)
Laborde, Errol, Marched the Day God: A History of the Rex Organization (New Orleans: The School of Design, 1999)
Lee, John R., Our Sleepless Nights: Surviving Katrina and Burying Miss Vera (New Orleans: JRL
Consulting Services, 2006)
Lewis, Peirce F., New Orleans: The Making of an Urban Landscape (Santa Fe: Center for American Places, 2003)
Long, Huey, Every Man a King (Cambridge: De Capo Press, 1996)
Rose, Chris, 1 Dead in Attic (New Orleans: Chris Rose Books, 2005)
Smallwood, Robert, The Five People You Meet in Hell: Surviving Katrina (New Orleans: Bacchus Books of New Orleans, 2006)
Sothern, Billy, Down in New Orleans: Reflections from a Drowned City (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007)
Walker, Rob, Letters from New Orleans (New Orleans: Garrett County Press, 2006)
Journal Articles
DeVore, Donald E., “Water in Sacred Places: Rebuilding New Orleans Black Churches as Sites of Community Empowerment,” in The Journal of American History, December 2007
Dickinson, James, “Still Swept Away: New Orleans Four Months After Katrina,” in Designer/Builder, March/April 2006
Germany, Kent B., “The Politics of Poverty and History: Racial Inequality and the Long Prelude to Katrina,” in The Journal of American History, December 2007
Hirsch, Arnold R., “Fade to Black: Hurricane Katrina and the Disappearance of Creole New Orleans,” in The Journal of American History, December 2007
Long, Alecia P., “Poverty Is the New Prostitution: Race, Poverty, and Public Housing in Post-Katrina New Orleans,” in The Journal of American History, December 2007
Mitchell, Reid, “Carnival and Katrina,” in The Journal of American History, December 2007
Smith, Sam, “A New Bottom of the Ninth: Urban Planning and New Orleans,” in Designer/Builder, May/June 2006
Films
Entell, Peter, Shake the Devil Off
Horton, Will, Testimony of a Big Chief
Katzman, Lisa, Tootie’s Last Suit
Martinez, Maurice, The Black Indians of New Orleans
———, The Quorum