In this hard-hitting book, the Lower Ninth Ward - ground zero for Hurricane Katrina - becomes a microcosm of what happens when white actors venture into black spaces for humanitarian aid.

Through vivid vignettes, Harvey exposes how blacks are often hindered in their efforts to rebuild their neighborhoods by seemingly progressive ideas and color-blind urban narratives.

Addressing the failure of disaster and environmental studies to see black communities as agents, the book demonstrates what critical disaster studies can offer for understandings of race, the environment and diversity.

This is a key contribution to debates on race, including the limitations of 'white allies' in places like Ferguson, Missouri and in the Black Lives Matter Movement.