Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the American Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005. Biloxi, Mississippi, a small town on the coast, was one of the towns devastated directly by the storm. Drawing on ethnographic, media, and historic document research and analysis, Jennifer Trivedi explores the pre-disaster cultural, historical, social, political, and economic distinctions that shaped the recovery of Biloxi and Biloxians. Trivedi examines how networks of people, groups, and institutions worked to prepare for and recover from the hurricane, reinforcing the distinctions that existed before the storm.