Sunday, September 21, 2025

644. David T. Ballantyne, Part 1

644. Part 1 of our interview with David T. Ballantyne about his book, Fractured Freedoms: Reconstruction in Central Louisiana. "Fractured Freedoms is a riveting history of central Louisiana from the 1860s to the 1890s, focusing on majority-Black Rapides Parish during Reconstruction. Using the region as a case study, Ballantyne reveals what is, in part, a rural Reconstruction success story, emphasizing the resilience of Black politics and the persistence of significant divisions among white residents that allowed the Republican Party to gain and maintain power there. It was only with the collapse of state-level Republican power in 1877 that Democratic forces in the parish were able to dismantle local Republican political control and gradually constrict Black freedoms."

Saturday, September 13, 2025

643. Roxanne Harde, Part 2.

643. Part 2 of our conversation with Roxanne Harde about the Tremé series. Roxanne Harde on the Tremé series. "Set in post-Katrina New Orleans, this hour-long drama series, from executive producers David Simon and Eric Overmyer, follows the lives of ordinary residents as they struggle with the after-effects of the 2005 hurricane.

Thursday, September 4, 2025

642. Roxanne Harde, Part 1.

642. Part 1 of our conversation with Roxanne Harde about the Tremé television series. "Set in post-Katrina New Orleans, this hourlong drama series, from executive producers David Simon and Eric Overmyer, follows the lives of ordinary residents as they struggle with the aftereffects of the 2005 hurricane.

Friday, August 29, 2025

641. Josh Neufeld, Part 2

Part 2 of our conversation with Josh Neufeld about his non-fiction graphic novel, A. D. After the Deluge. “A stunning graphic novel that makes plain the undeniable horrors and humanity triggered by Hurricane Katrina in the true stories of six New Orleanians who survived the storm. A.D. follows each of the six from the hours before Katrina struck to its horrific aftermath.

Friday, August 22, 2025

640. Josh Neufeld, Part 1

640. Bruce's son Kerr joins us for part 1 of our conversation with Josh Neufeld about his non-fiction graphic novel, A. D. After the Deluge. “A stunning graphic novel that makes plain the undeniable horrors and humanity triggered by Hurricane Katrina in the true stories of six New Orleanians who survived the storm. A.D. follows each of the six from the hours before Katrina struck to its horrific aftermath. Here is Denise, a sixth-generation New Orleanian who will experience the chaos of the Superdome; the Doctor, whose unscathed French Quarter home becomes a refuge for those not so lucky; Abbas and his friend Mansell, who face the storm from the roof of Abbas’s family-run market; Kwame, a pastor’s son whose young life will remain wildly unsettled well into the future; and Leo, a comic-book fan, and his girlfriend, Michelle, who will lose everything but each other.”

Thursday, August 14, 2025

639. Lori Peek, Part 2

 639. Part 2 of our interview with Lori Peek about her book, The Continuing Storm, which she wrote with Kai Erikson. More than fifteen years later, Hurricane Katrina maintains a strong grip on the American imagination. The reason is not simply that Katrina was an event of enormous scale. But, quite apart from its lethality and destructiveness, Katrina retains a place in living memory because it is one of the most telling disasters in our recent national experience, revealing important truths about our society and ourselves. The Continuing Storm reflects upon what we have learned about Katrina and about America.

Friday, August 8, 2025

638. Lori Peek, Part 1

638. Part 1 of our interview with Lori Peek about her book, The Continuing Storm, which she wrote with Kai Erikson. More than fifteen years later, Hurricane Katrina maintains a strong grip on the American imagination. The reason is not simply that Katrina was an event of enormous scale. But, quite apart from its lethality and destructiveness, Katrina retains a place in living memory because it is one of the most telling disasters in our recent national experience, revealing important truths about our society and ourselves. The Continuing Storm reflects upon what we have learned about Katrina and about America.