When Universities are Destroyed

By the time the floodwaters receded in
early September of 2005 after the onslaught of Hurricane
Katrina, Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, had
suffered losses of $650 million. School administrators were
faced with the daunting task of rebuilding. Seeking
direction, the staff looked to the University of Alabama in
Tuscaloosa and its renewal efforts after it was destroyed by
fire by Union forces during the Civil War in 1865.

In When Universities are Destroyed, author Jack Kushner
describes the destruction of each university and compares
each institution's efforts to overcome adversity, rebuild,
and once again provide education to its students. Kushner
details how Tulane University cleaned up from the hurricane,
and with the adroit leadership of President Scott Cowen,
reopened six months later. This history book also shows how
the reconstruction period in the South delayed the
rebuilding of the University of Alabama.

Examining
both the similarities and differences between the two
universities, When Universities are Destroyed provides a
vivid picture of how Tulane University and the University of
Alabama faced the destruction of their campus and found the
fortitude to move forward.