Introduction

Summary

“The greatest comeback since Lazarus” is how Peter Ricchiuti, Assistant Dean of Tulane’s Business School, often described New Orleans’ recovery from Hurricane Katrina’s near-total devastation. In the years immediately following Katrina, Ricchiuti frequently welcomed students, graduates, and business professionals to New Orleans. Seeing visitors and newcomers amazed and inspired him, his colleagues, and his neighbors. Outside the Central Business District hotels where he often spoke at conferences, there were scores of shops, restaurants, and offices reopening for business, undeterred by vacant office towers and the lingering odor of basements still damp and moldy from floodwaters. A little farther away, across dozens of city neighborhoods, thousands of residents and volunteers were slowly rebuilding homes, businesses, and churches submerged for weeks following Katrina’s catastrophic levee breaches. For those who had observed firsthand New Orleans’ near-complete devastation, its resurgence was solemn and awe-inspiring.