How do you account for the different responses to 9/11 and 8/29? One was an alien attack and the other a"natural disaster." There were forewarnings of both for years. In the former, local, state, and national leadership were of the same party. In New Orleans and Louisiana, at least, national leadership met state and local leadership of the opposition party. There's responsibility to be shared by both. In 9/11, no race or class was spared. In 8/29, young and old, poor and sick people of color have been left in deteriorating conditions for days, while self-righteous white jerks clucked over their behavior under the circumstances. In 8/29, we've lost more than two office towers. We may have lost a whole city. That's gross negligence and incompetence. Let the impeachment proceedings begin.

Visit History Carnival #15, the Carnival of Bad History, and the Teaching Carnival, if you've not been there. On Monday 5 September, Rebecca Goetz will host an early modern version of Carnivalesque at (a)musings of a grad student. Send your nominations of recent exemplary posts in the period between 1500 and 1800 C.E. to her at rgoetz*AT*fas*DOT*harvard*DOT*edu. Put"Carnivalesque" in the title line of your e-mail so it will get through Rebecca's spam filters. [ ... ]

"Simon Schama: Over the Rainbow," Independent, 3 September, features an interview with Schama about his new book, Rough Crossings: Britain, The Slaves, and the American Revolution. Thanks to Mark Brady at Liberty & Power for the tip.

Colm Toibin,"Edmund Wilson': American Critic," New York Times, 4 September, reviews Lewis M. Dabney Edmund Wilson: A Life in Literature. Dabney may give us more detail about Wilson's personal life than we need (‘Bunny' was quite the rabbit), says Toibin, and his critical failures were large. Still, Edmund Wilson was the most important literary critic of the first half of the twentieth century and this is his best biography.

Jim Sleeper's"Allan Bloom and the Conservative Mind," New York Times, 4 September, re-reads Closing of the American Mind and argues that Bloom would shudder at what passes for conservatism in contemporary America.

In"Race, Poverty, and Katrina," NPR, 2 September, LSU's Craig Colton discusses how race has influenced disaster preparedness in New Orleans. Thanks to David Salmanson for the tip.

Witold Rybczynski,"The Jewel of the South: Can New Orleans Recover Its Cultural Richness?" Slate, 2 September. Slate's architecture critic remembers New Orleans' charm and wonders if it can be recovered in the 21st century. Thanks to Nathanael Robinson for the tip.

Greg James Robinson - 9/3/2005

Thank you, Ralph, for this brief but indicative comparison of 9/11 and 8/29. There seems so little to say, especially given all that is being said. We can only hope that whaqt will come out of this is justice. As Geroge W. Bush's presidency, a minority administration and annoncpncilatory one, was made by the events of 9/11 into a center of unprecedented unilateral power, so too will he be unmade by his reponse to this crisis.