The Good Pirates of the Forgotten Bayous: Fighting to Save a Way of Life in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina | 
 enlarge | Author: Ken Wells
Publisher: Yale University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
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Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 11606
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 272
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.1
ISBN: 0300121520
Dewey Decimal Number: 976.336044092
EAN: 9780300121520
ASIN: 0300121520
Publication Date: September 2, 2008
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Product Description
DIVP style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"With a long and colorful family history of defying storms, the seafaring Robin cousins of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, make a fateful decision to ride out Hurricane Katrina on their hand-built fishing boats in a sheltered Civil War#8211;era harbor called Violet Canal. But when Violet is overrun by killer surges, the Robins must summon all their courage, seamanship, and cunning to save themselves and the scores of others suddenly cast into their care./PP style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" /PP style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"In this gripping saga, Louisiana native Ken Wells provides a close-up look at the harrowing experiences in the backwaters of New Orleans during and after Katrina. Focusing on the plight of the intrepid Robin family, whose members trace their local roots to before the American Revolution, Wells recounts the landfall of the storm and the tumultuous seventy-two hours afterward, when the Robins#8217; beloved bayou country lay catastrophically flooded and all but forgotten by outside authorities as the world focused its attention on New Orleans. Wells follows his characters for more than two years as they strive, amid mind-boggling wreckage and governmental fecklessness, to rebuild their shattered lives. This is a story about the deep longing for home and a proud bayou people#8217;s love of the fertile but imperiled low country that has nourished them./PP style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" /P/DIV
Book Description
DIVP style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"The true story of a resilient circle of shrimp boat captains who faced and withstood the wreckage of Katrina but now find their courage tested by a greater threat: the disappearance of their livelihood and their centuries-old bayou culture./P/DIV
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
Must Read January 6, 2009
k.d. pat (Texas)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
. . . for the "rest of the story." The New Orleans account of Hurricane Katrina is just a chapter; this provides history about the area south of New Orleans and about its people and what they experienced. A compelling read!
Read 'Notes on Sources" October 29, 2008
Pat Venolia (Vista, CA USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
All the reviews are right on; this book is wonderful for many reasons. I was compelled to read beyond the end of the story into "Notes on Sources," where, on page 240, I found a paragraph about the Chalmette High School's post-storm video on the St. Bernard Parish school Web site at: www.stbernard.k12.la.us/ Click on "Our Story" in the left panel. It is excellent and will touch you deeply.
 The Good Pirates of Forgotten Bayous October 24, 2008
M. B. Weiss
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
A great storyteller with unusual sensitivity to the unique aspects of the a diverse people relates their tales of heroism/survival during the harrowing days of and following Hurricane Katrina.
The Good Pirates of the Forgotten Bayous October 12, 2008
Joyce Crawford
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Seldom do I read a book that I just can't put down, but this book was just that! Except for the bare necessities of living for those 15 hours or so, I just soaked up every page like the proverbial sponge. I live in Louisiana and have experienced several serious hurricanes - in Jena during Audrey in the 50s, then in Baton Rouge for Betsy and Camille in the 60s. Since the 70s, I've lived in the northeast Louisiana Mississippi River Delta and rarely feel much effect from hurricanes except for the increased rains, winds, and tornadoes. We experienced Gustav just this year in a much more catastrophic way than usual. Katrina brought us evacuees that lived with us for 4 months. Therefore, I felt connected to the author's stories about the storm, its devastation and, subsequently, its snails-paced recovery. The personal stories of the peoples' lives in Terrebonne and St. Bernard were gripping, and I could tell the author's commitment and connectedness to the people. Some of his most interesting work was the description of how the lower parishes were settled by the Acadians, Ilenas, and others who remain committed to their homes in that area to this very day. I hear people say, "That place is just uninhabitable....why do they keep going back.....how could they rebuild after what they've gone through." Reading this work of their proud heritage, I can say that I now have a greater understanding of why they go back. It is their home.
A "Must Read" September 25, 2008
Suzon G. Hawley (Asheville, NC)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Although I knew Ken Wells was a great writer after thoroughly enjoying his novels, this book was a completely different experience. It blew me away--although not literally, as happened to some of the people interviewed for this true account of hurricane Katrina in the parishes where the hurricane hit before New Orleans. The story was gripping, moving, and informative. Wells provides not only the riveting first person accounts of riding out the storm and the slow, subsequent recovery, but much useful background information about the culture of the area, as well as meteorological and political information about contributing causes of the disaster. I truly couldn't stop reading.
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