Nine Lives: Mystery, Magic, Death, and Life in New Orleans -- Dan Baum, Paperback

The hidden history of the haunted and beloved city of New Orleans, told through the intersecting lives of nine remarkable characters.

"Nine Lives is stunning work. Dan Baum has immersed himself in New Orleans, the most fascinating city in the United States, and illuminated it in a way that is as innovative as Tom Wolfe on hot rods and Truman Capote on a pair of murderers. Full of stylistic brilliance and deep insight and an overriding compassion, Nine Lives is an instant classic of creative nonfiction." --Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain

Nine Lives is a multivoiced biography of a dazzling, surreal, and imperiled city, told through the lives of night unforgettable characters and bracketed by two epic storms: Hurricane Betsy, which transformed New Orleans in the 1960s, and Hurricane Katrina, which nearly destroyed it. Dan Baum brings the kaleidoscopic portrait to life, showing us what was lost in the storm and what remains to be saved.

BONUS: This edition contains a Nine Lives discussion guide.


Author: Dan Baum
Publisher: Random House
Published: 02/16/2010
Pages: 368
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.57lbs
Size: 8.02h x 5.16w x 0.81d
ISBN: 9780385523202

Review Citation(s):
New York Times Book Review 02/21/2010 pg. 20

About the Author
Dan Baum is a former staff writer for The New Yorker, and has written for numerous other magazines and newspapers. He lives in Boulder, Colorado.