After the Flood

With only a brief introduction, photographer Polidori plunges the reader into hurricane Katrina's wake of destruction across the Gulf coast. Oversize photos capture the stark reality: whole neighborhoods under water and later in shambles, and close-ups of sodden bedrooms, mud-scoured kitchens and painterly mold spores. As the more than 500 photos taken between September 2005 and April 2006 progress, destruction eventually gives way to temporary trailers, which appear next to the rubble. The poignant absence of humans and short captions give the collection a powerful austerity, though some viewers may find it relentlessly clinical. (Nov.)