ABSTRACT
People in New Orleans marked the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina by escaping from Gustav, the mother of all hurricanes according to their rightfully nervous mayor, Ralph Nagin. This time, though, the entire city was evacuated and the levees held. Now the rebuilding is continuing with new confidence and the city's critics have picked up where they left off: Is New Orleans becoming an Hispanic city? Will enough of its former black residents be able to return so that New Orleans will once again thrive as the Creole capital of the United States — with its unique music and cuisine and street life? Will its special relation to French culture and language still be able to drive the city's all-important tourist economy? And even further, will scholars and historians finally join the meteorologists in focusing steadily on the city's Caribbean and Atlantic context?
