I do not use the phrase lightly, but Nine Lives: Death And Life In New Orleans by Dan Baum is, most definitely, "an ambitious and important work". Baum's task in laying out an authentic and true delineation of the history and soul of this most unique city was truly daunting. In weaving together the disparate yet occasionally intertwined lives of nine distinct characters, Baum somehow manages to capture a revealing and compelling essence of each individual that not only brings them to life but, ultimately, exquisitely portrays just what it is that separates New Orleans from every other city in the nation.

Make no mistake about it, the "Big Easy" is, and apparently always has been, a place with many unseemly warts and more than its share of crime, corruption, and dirt-level poverty. Baum, in this tender but gritty expose, never shies away from that fact. The nine lives he chooses to revisit serve perfectly to illustrate the various race, class and political experiences that have collectively shaped New Orleans into the smoky "jambalaya" of cultural life that it is.

Perhaps the most masterful- and compelling- facet of Baum's N.O. tapestry is that even though he begins some of the character's histories over 40 years ago, and the vast majority of the book covers the years prior to 2007, the inevitable collective climactic experiences of each of the nine subjects during and immediately after Hurricane Katrina are simultaneously brilliant, raw, heartfelt, heartbreaking, dumbfounding, depressing and, even so, a little bit inspiring. The sights, emotions and travails of each of these memorable souls both before and during our nation's largest natural disaster- and perhaps most striking government failure- are undeniably powerful and bring an element of clarity to our understanding of the damaged but still beating heart of the city of New Orleans that we would not, could not, possess without experiencing it through the eyes of this unique collection of individuals. Thank you Dan Baum.

Reviewed by Jon Fine