Uses interviews with evacuees and service provider reports to analyse the response to the human crisis that was Hurricane Katrina.

1. After the storm: the state, civil society, and the response to Katrina; 2. An emerging methodology for a crisis situation; 3. Life before the storm: the old community; 4. Evacuation and arrival in Austin; 5. The limited transportability of social capital; 6. NGOs and the grassroots response; 7. The state and basic welfare: housing, employment, and identification; 8. Health care and the limitations of society; 9. The new social contract: the state, civil society, and social capital.

Ronald J. Angel is Professor of Sociology at the University of Texas, Austin.