After the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans became ground zero for the reinvention of the American city, with urban planners, movie stars, anarchists, and politicians all advancing their competing visions of recovery. In this wash of reform, residents and volunteers from across the country struggled to build the foundations of a new New Orleans. For over five years, the author documented a cross section of the city in upheaval: a born again preacher with a ministry of ex-addicts, a former Black Panther organizing for a new cause, a single mother, "broke as a joke" in a FEMA trailer. This book chronicles their battle to survive not just the floods, but the corruption that continues and the base-level emergency of poverty and neglect. From ruin to limbo to triumphant return, the author offers an intimate look at the lives of everyday American heroes. As these lives play out against the ruined local landscape and an emerging national recession, this becomes a story of resilience and hope.