Five Days at MemorialRead about the other books on the list.
By Sheri Fink
In the days following Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans was in a state of panic and chaos, with those who were ill or otherwise incapacitated unable to help themselves or each other. Sheri Fink's monumental investigation of the people stranded for nearly a week in the city's Memorial Medical Center unflinchingly probes the layers of complete disaster: the failure of governmental rescue efforts, the repercussions of a decision to artificially hurry the death of some critically ill patients -- but above all, the extraordinary persistence of hospital workers and patients alike in surviving amid a momentary breakdown of society.
--Marshal Zeringue