The year before the flood offers a different perspective on the city of new orleans and its people tracing its musical history and that influence on the world and the author having read a number of books on the city its history and the affects of katrina this book was a welcome addition to understanding why new orleans is new orleans it offers insight into issues such as politics and race as well as charting the rich and varied musical influences that make new orleans such a . By turns irreverent joyous darkly comic passionate and polemical the year before the flood juxtaposes the citys crowded calendar of parties festivals and parades with the murderousness of its poverty and its legacy of racism. The year before the flood is his tribute to new orleans as it was part memoir part history lesson its a scrapbook of the bustling port city at its most joyful boisterous and deadly. By turns irreverent joyous darkly comic passionate and polemical the year before the flood juxtaposes the citys crowded calendar of parties festivals and parades with the murderousness of its poverty and its legacy of racism