Baodong Liu is associate professor of political science at the University of Utah.James M. Vanderleeuw is professor of political science and Director of the Center of Public Policy Studies at Lamar University, Texas.

• Chapter 1. Hurricane Katrina, Racial Change, and Electoral Politics in New Orleans: An IntroductionChapter 2. Theories of Racial Politics in Urban AmericaChapter 3. Racial Conflict and Accommodation in Electoral PoliticsChapter 4. Black Mayors in New OrleansChapter 5. Racial Conflict in the Electoral ArenaChapter 6. Race and Strategic VotingChapter 7. Race, Katrina, and New Orleans' Electoral Politics: Conclusion

The authors of this unique longitudinal study of racial voting patterns challenge both Key's racial threat hypothesis and the racial tolerance hypothesis. As the authors show in the thorough analysis of decades of New Orleans' elections, racial voting patterns are the product of the racial makeup of the electorate and the candidate pool. This volume should be on the shelf of all those interested in racial politics and urban politics.