Diary from the Dome: Reflections on Fear and Privilege During Katrina is a personal chronicle of two very different trips to New Orleans-"America's Most Soulful City." The first chronicle is the author's 1977 trip, recorded in his journal as "a naive twenty-one-year-old discovering himself." That trip included a visit to the French Quarter, delicious meals, live jazz, and the observation: "We must strive to know ourselves completely, and to be our own best friend." Jumping forward twenty-eight years, a major concern for the author before he embarks on another trip to New Orleans is which book he should select to take with him on his trip. Choosing a treatise over a copy of Thoreau's Walden, Mr. Harris realizes, "I should have brought Thoreau's book as a survival guide for what I was to encounter mentally and physically." He was to encounter being caught in the vicious storm, Hurricane Katrina, and eventually become trapped as a tourist inside the New Orleans Superdome-with 20,000 other helpless people. A whirlwind of emotions circulated that dank and congested arena for several days as Mr. Harris observed human behavior at its best and at its worst. This is a story that is incisive, opinionated, and articulate. It is also an eloquent tribute to "the heroic members ... and those other heroes who touched my life there [and] the incredible citizens of New Orleans who have persevered to survive and treat me to America's Most Soulful City." Book jacket.