Sherri Rosen’s Review of “Rising From Katrina” by Kathleen Koch
Review of Review of “Rising From Katrina”, Kathleen Koch
I was reading through my weekly edition of “Publisher’s Weekly” in May, 2010, and came across the book review they had written about “Rising From Katrina”-How My Mississippi Hometown Lost It All And Found What Mattered. I was so taken by the review, and was so curious about what had actually occurred during Katrina with Mississippi. Mostly, people like myself, heard about New Orleans, but hardly a word about Mississippi.
So I reached out to Kathleen and had her publisher mail me a copy of her new book so I could read it and write a review.
Kathleen Koch, a reporter for CNN, grew up in Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi. A recollection of a wonderful childhood growing up in a home on the water. Bay Saint Louis was a well kept secret of beautiful homes, shops, and a community of people who cared about one another.
Kathleen was sent to cover the hurricane and it was a real challenge for her when she saw the town she grew up in completely devastated, while also being a responsible journalist reporting what was happening. And how she saw that “Katrina look” on people. People walking around in complete shock at what had happened to their town. How she would find moments to go off and just cry to herself at what she was witnessing. The before and after pictures are stunning. Such a beautiful town, that is no longer.
But what struck me is her speaking about the people. Her recording on what happened to many of them during the storm, how some died, and how the ones that recovered were concerned about helping one another. People no longer having their material possessions but wanting to help one another. Kathleen speaks about before the storm, David Treutel Sr., father of Kathleen’s CYO friend, David Treutal sold a car to his housekeeper and after the storm Treutel Sr. had no car and the housekeeper did, so she offered him back the car to use it until he no longer needed it.
Brett Favre, NFL great and Mississippi Gulf Coast native said “the random acts of kindness you will hear about in the book can’t help but renew your faith and humble you at the same time. Kathleen captures the challenges, victories, and can-do attitude the people of the Mississippi coast exhibited after this horrible disaster. It is a great read!”
Anderson Cooper, anchor of CNN’s AC360 has written a touching foreword to the book. His dad was from Mississippi and would visit with him when he was little.
A portion of the proceeds from this book will be donated to Pheuma Winds of Hope and LESM Coast Recovery Camps, two non-profit groups working on the Katrina recovery effort in Bay St. Louis.
You must read this book.
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This entry was posted on Sunday, August 15th, 2010 at 8:14 am and is filed under Clients, Friends and Colleagues, Industry News, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 15th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
I too was so pleased to see more attention being paid to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Entire towns were obliterated. I gave a book talk in Bay St. Louis and found the people extremely welcoming, determined, and with fantastic senses of humor in spite of all they endured. Three cheers to Kathleen.
Paul Harris
Author, “Diary From the Dome, Reflections on Fear and Privilege During Katrina”