The work of two journalists and OSI grantees, John McQuaid and Katy Reckdahl, is featured in City Adrift: New Orleans Before and After Katrina, a new book published by the Center for Public Integrity. McQuaid and Reckdahl were 2006 OSI Katrina Media Fellows.

Through interviews with homeowners and health officials, first responders and politicians, as well as first-hand personal experience, City Adrift takes readers on a journey from the time the storm hit on August 29, 2005, through its aftermath, including the city’s progress in rebuilding. This collection of voices paints a detailed portrait of what went wrong and why, and on a broader scale examines how local and federal officials prepare for and react to catastrophic events, whether a major hurricane, terrorist attack, or health pandemic.

The book's authors include Pulitzer Prize-winner McQuaid, whose earlier reporting predicted the failure of the levees and the impending disaster, and Reckdahl, who details the overwhelmingly inadequate response of the American Red Cross and other social service organizations.

Katrina Media Fellowships were awarded to exceptional print and radio journalists, photographers, and documentary filmmakers helping to foster a national conversation on race and class inequalities that Hurricane Katrina laid bare.