1 Dead in Attic

With a new foreword by the author—Chris Rose's New York Times bestselling collection: "A gripping book about life's challenges in post-Katrina New Orleans…packed with heart, honesty, and wit" (New Republic). Celebrated as a local classic and heaped with national praise, 1 Dead in Attic is a brilliant collection of columns by an award-winning Times-Picayune journalist chronicling the horrific damage and aftermath wrought by Hurricane Katrina in 2006. “Frank and compelling...vivid and invaluable” (Booklist), it is a roller coaster ride through a devastated American wasteland as it groans for rebirth. Full of the emotion, tragedy and even humor—which has made Chris Rose a favorite son and the voice of a lost city—these are the stories of the dead and the living, of survivors and believers, of destruction and recovery, and of hope and despair. With photographs by British photojournalist Charlie Varley, 1 Dead in Attic captures New Orleans caught between an old era and a new, New Orleans in its most desperate time, as it struggled out of floodwaters and willed itself back to life.

Chris Rose is a columnist for The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, an essayist for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and a frequent commentator for National Public Radio's Morning Edition. In 2006, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Commentary in recognition of his Katrina columns and was awarded a share in the Times-Picayune staff's Pulitzer for Public Service. Rose lives in New Orleans with his three children.

Introduction Who We Are Facing the Unknown The First Time Back Survivors Life in the Surreal City Hope Rita Takes Aim The Empty City God and Strippers The More Things Change Enough to Feed an Army Blue Roof Blues The Smell The Elephant Men Mad City 1 Dead in Attic Despair My Introduction to New Orleans The Funky Butt The Hurricane Kids Traveling Man Have Barbie, Will Travel Prep Boys and Jesuits Good-bye Groundhog Day Coming Home Civil Unrest Refrigerator Town Lurching Toward Babylon The Cat Lady Caving In The Magnet Man The Last Ride Lights in the City Let the Good Times Roll Our Katrina Christmas Tears, Fears, and a New Year Chocolate City Tutti-Frutti He Had a Dream He's Picking the Pairs for Nola's Ark Rider on the Storm Car 54, Where Are You? Not in My Pothole Survive This September Never Ends The Muddy Middle Ground Misery in the Melting Pot The End of the World A Huck Finn Kind of Life Our Very Scary Summer Songs in the Key of Strife The End of the Line We Raze, and Raise, and Keep Pushing Forward Echoes of Katrina in the Country Second Line, Same Verse Don't Mess with Mrs. Rose Shooting the Rock The City That Hair Forgot A Rapturous Day in the Real World Big Daddy No Fun Peace Among the Ruins Artful Practicality "She Rescued My Heart" Miss Ellen Deserved Better Rebirth at the Maple Leaf Melancholy Reveler They Don't Get Mardi Gras, and They Never Will Reality Fest Love Fest O Brothers, Where Be Y'all? Funeral for a Friend Thanks, We Needed That Say What's So, Joe A Night to Remember Eternal Dome Nation On the Inside Looking Out A City on Hold A Tough Nut to Crack Hell and Back Letters from the Edge Children of the Storm, It's Time to Represent Thank You, Whoever You Are A New Dawn Acknowledgments