Three years ago today at 6:10 a.m. CDT, Hurricane Katrina
made landfall in Plaquemines Parish, on the southeastern tip of Louisiana’s Gulf Coast. The effects of the
storm were felt as far north as Canada but nowhere more intensely than in St. Bernard Parish, just south of New Orleans. When Wall Street Journal reporter and Louisiana native Ken
Wells convinced a National Guard Blackhawk helicopter pilot to airlift him into
the stricken region just after the storm had landed, he wasn’t sure if he would
find a way back. “Getting there was crucial;” he wrote, “getting back would
just have to work itself out.”

In his new book, Good
Pirates of the Forgotten Bayous, Wells focuses not on the devastation
Katrina left in its wake but rather on the salty characters who refused to give
in to the mighty storm. You can hear Wells discussing fishermen Ricky and
Ronald Robin, the main characters of his saga, on The Book Report, a radio
program sponsored by Windows a bookshop in Monroe, LA.
A podcasted edition of their discussion is available here.

Wells and the Robin cousins are also scheduled to be
featured on NPR’s All Things Considered. Check NPR.org for your local broadcast
schedule.