1.4: Undercurrent: life after Katrina

New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was a devastated city: neglected by the authorities, deprived of basic services, deserted by thousands of its inhabitants, haunted by loss and tragedy. Jim Gabour, resident and writer, decided to stay.

In the months after Katrina, he sent a series of reports and reflections on how he, his family, his neighbours, friends and fellow-citizens were coping with the aftermath and reconstructing their homes and lives. In the resulting everyday epics of survival and discovery, the heart and soul of a wounded but life-affirming New Orleans quietly unfolds.

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1.3: Europe: Visions, Realities, Futures

Europe is at once geographical expression, historical creation, cultural space, and political project. In the early 21st century, it is also a site of contention, involving competing visions of its identity, boundaries and future. Published in a "big year" for Europe, this third edition is intended as a unique guide, resource and stimulus to help make sense of where Europe has been and where it is going.

1.2: Turkey: Writers, Politics and Free Speech

In memoriam, Hrant Dink (1954-2007)
This special collection, in memory of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink who was killed in January 2007, includes three articles by Hrant himself. Consistent and courageous in his efforts to speak the truth, defend justice and advance human rights, Dink was a key figure in democratic dialogue in Turkey and beyond, and an important contributor to openDemocracy. Turkish and Armenian analysts here reflect on Hrant's life and on the questions raised by his death and its aftermath.

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1.1: Europe and Islam: Controversy, Protest, Dialogue

The London bombings, the Danish cartoon controversy and Pope Benedict XVI's "evil and inhuman" speech in Regensburg were some of the markers of a difficult new phase in Europe and Islam's long shared history. In this collection, we see in openDemocracy writers' commentary the premonitions of the events yet to come. The challenge as we read is to listen for those echoes from the future

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