5 Further reading

For further discussion and explanations of events in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, G. Squires and C. Hartman's (eds) There is No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster (2006, Routledge) brings together a series of social sciences essays and commentaries around different dimensions of the disaster. There are many books and studies detailing the evolution of council estates in Britain and focusing on the many problems facing some of the residents who live in them. Tony Parker's People of Providence: A Housing Estate and Some of Its Inhabitants (1983, Hutchinson) is widely recognised as a pioneering study of life in a council estate. Providing extracts from detailed interviews with residents, it highlights the diverse lives and ordinary and extraordinary stories which characterise life in these neighbourhoods. David Kynaston's Austerity Britain, 1945–51 (2007, Bloomsbury) offers a rich and accessible historical overview of a key period in post-war Britain, including accounts of life in some of the new council estates being built during this time. In Social Exclusion (2005, Open University Press), David Byrne examines the origins of terms such as ‘underclass’ and ‘exclusion’ and considers some of the ways in which these are replicated in social and geographical divisions in contemporary British society. For representations of social disorganisation and council estates in works of fiction, see Livi Michael's Under a Thin Moon (1994, Minerva) and Andrea Levy's Never Far From Nowhere (1996, Headline Review).

If this course has been of interest you may like to study DD208 with The Open University. Why not watch the video below to learn more about the content of the course.