Imprint On Transparent For Web
  • Books
  • Catalogs
  • Series
  • Orders
  • For Authors
  • Contact
  • Support Us
  • Social Media
  • Sale
  • Login|Cart

Holding Out and Hanging On

Surviving Hurricane Katrina

Holding Out and Hanging On

124 pages

10 x 11

Published: November 2007

62

ISBN: 9780826217745

Format:

Hardcover

Price: $34.95

BUY
About This Book

Words cannot adequately convey the human dimension of the devastation wreaked on New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. Thomas Neff’s photographs can.

            As a volunteer in the city in the early days after the flood, this Baton Rouge photographer witnessed firsthand the confusion and suffering that was New Orleans—as well as the persistence and strength of those who stuck it out. Neff subsequently spent forty-five days interviewing and photographing the city’s holdouts, and his record is a heartbreaking but compelling look at the true impact of the disaster.

            At a time when New Orleans residents felt isolated and abandoned, Neff provided the ear that many needed. The friendship he extended enabled him to capture remarkable images and to write sensitive commentaries that approach his subjects from a uniquely personal perspective. Here are Antoinette K-Doe assessing the future of her ruined Mother-in-Law Lounge; Juan Parke, who ferried scores of people to safety in his silver canoe; Ashton O’Dwyer defending his property from looters; Ride Hamilton pausing in his work as a freelance medic. These portraits and dozens more tell the story of the storm through many voices—and collectively they tell a story of their own.

            Other books have documented the wrath of Katrina, but none has captured the human dimension as powerfully as Holding Out and Hanging On. Through these intimate, intense images, readers will meet people from all walks of life who are exhausted by grief and shock but who are determined to hold on to their culture and their city. Neff’s gripping black-and-white images and equally poignant narratives show individuals who are reorganizing their lives, trying to maintain their individuality, and even enriching their souls as they help one another.

            These are the stories that New Orleans citizens told each other—a view of the disaster not captured by the news cameras—and photographs that show the city as it knows itself. Together, Neff’s portraits and stories form a sensitive documentary of survival and stand as a testament to the extraordinary individuals who endured one of the most calamitous disasters of our time.

Authors and Editors
Thomas Neff is Professor of Art at Louisiana State University and is the coeditor of Teaching Photography. He has traveled extensively in Italy, Ireland, China, and Japan, producing bodies of work that focus on people, landscape, and architecture.

Books of Interest

BLUE HIGHWAYS Revisited Hardcover  by Edgar I. Ailor

BLUE HIGHWAYS Revisited

Edgar I. Ailor

The Mississippi Hardcover  by Quinta Scott

The Mississippi

A Visual Biography

Quinta Scott

Close-Ups of History Hardcover  by Henry D. Burroughs

Close-Ups of History

Three Decades through the Lens of an AP Photographer

Henry D. Burroughs

Images of a Vanished Era, 1898-1924 Hardcover  by Lucian Niemeyer

Images of a Vanished Era, 1898-1924

The Photographs of Walter C. Schneider

Lucian Niemeyer

The Landscape in Black and White Hardcover  by Oliver Schuchard

The Landscape in Black and White

Oliver Schuchard Photographs, 1967-2005

Oliver Schuchard

Images of St. Louis Hardcover  by Quinta Scott

Images of St. Louis

Quinta Scott

Images of the Ozarks Hardcover  by Kristie Lee

Images of the Ozarks

Kristie Lee

Little Germany on the Missouri Hardcover  by Anna Kemper Hesse

Little Germany on the Missouri

The Photographs of Edward J. Kemper, 1895-1920

Anna Kemper Hesse

Images of Kansas City Hardcover  by William Mills

Images of Kansas City

William Mills

Missouri in Flight Hardcover  by Mundy Hackett

Missouri in Flight

The Bird Photography of Mundy Hackett

Mundy Hackett

Calendar of Events

Join our email list

Like us

Follow us

Contact Us

Support the Press

Catalogs

Ordering Information

About Us

In partnership with the university, our mission is to advance the humanities and sciences. The University of Missouri Press is committed to publishing important books, including those unlikely to turn a profit for commercial publishers. As the only member of the Association of University Presses in Missouri, the Press is the state’s premier publisher of original and relevant peer-reviewed trade titles, textbooks, references, and monographs in disciplines served by the University of Missouri. We discover and disseminate knowledge through scholarly print and digital publications that will improve the quality of life—not only for all who call Missouri home, but for people across the nation and around the world.

© Curators of the University of Missouri.
All rights reserved. DMCA and other copyright information.
An equal opportunity/affirmative action institution.
Site Powered by Supadu