Fire on the Levee: The Murder of Henry Glover and the Search for Justice After Hurricane Katrina

This riveting true crime saga from former federal prosecutor Fishman and Men’s Journal contributing editor Hooper (Muscle Medicine) begins in 2009 when Fishman, then working in the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, came across a file on Henry Glover, a Black man whose body was found in a burned-out car atop a breached New Orleans levee after Hurricane Katrina. This launched a yearlong FBI investigation that culminated in the conclusion that Glover was killed by a white police officer and it was covered up by the New Orleans Police Department. Two officers ended up facing charges, one for federal civil rights violations involved in Glover’s death and another for obstruction of justice. Fishman and Hooper meticulously detail the investigation, anonymous threats against the investigators, and the racism suffusing the case, generating real outrage when the verdict against Glover’s killer is overturned on appeal. Coming 17 years after Glover’s death and 10 years after the officer who killed him walked free, this is a scathing and timely look at police brutality in America. Readers will be gripped. Agent: Sam Stoloff, Frances Goldin Literary Agency. (Apr.)