Louisiana's coastal erosion is an exemplar of a modern-day environmental crisis that is historical in its origins, geographical in its machinations, and rigorously interdisciplinary in its affects and ameliorations. No one is better positioned to narrate this complex topic than is Colten, a historical geographer known for his interdisciplinary investigations of New Orleans, coastal Louisiana, southern rivers, flood control, pollution, and environmental disasters.
State of Disaster interweaves decades of research findings about Louisiana coastal erosion and restoration, including studies overseen by Colten during his stint with the Water Institute of the Gulf. Interdisciplinary historians seeking a succinct integration of hundreds of academic works, will want this book in their library. But State of Disaster is much more than an integrative literature review; it hones an argument about the human dimension that Colten says has been largely missing from the discourse about how to save coastal Louisiana from sinking soils, eroding...