In the author's note he states that as a historian he "knew a wicked hurricane could alter world history". Douglas Brinkley is an academic historian at Tulane University, resident of New Orleans and commentator for network news channels. The Great Deluge covers the week of Saturday, August 27th to Saturday, September 3 with hundreds of personal detailed descriptions of Katrina. Private individuals, government employees, members of the Coast Guard and FEMA, Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center and celebrities such as Harry Connick, Jr., author Anne Rice and Fats Domino provide a rich storytelling narrative of an historical cataclysm. The book opens with a description of the Ninth Ward's SPCA evacuation of 263 dogs and cats two days before landfall. When Hurricane Katrina was enroute Brinkley vertically evacuated his family to a 15th floor condominium where his family observed the Mississippi River "roaring backwards" due to the storm. News personalities faced challenges and frustrations that provide dimensions to coverage viewed by the American television audience. NBC's Tony Zumbado's search of Memorial Medical Center adds a nightmare shadow to the tragedy. The raw emotional impact will give the reader déjà vu to his own reactions during the week's events.