Not only does he display his knowledge of race relations but also his understanding of classism and how the government treats poor people. More specifically, Dyson utilizes scholarship to points out the failings of the Bush administration and the American government as it pertained to Hurricane Katrina and its response to the victims who were overwhelmingly black and poor. The Scholar in Eric Dyson also presents statistics and facts associated with the population of New Orleans. Scholarly and literary Criticism of Come Hell or High Water

Indeed Dyson's book has received a great deal of scholarly and literary criticism. As it pertains to scholarly criticism professor of history at UCLA Gary B. Nash, refers to Come Hell or High Water as a "brilliant and sobering analysis" ("Reviews and Praise"). Nash goes on to say that the book accurately addresses racial politics and the inadequacies of the bush administration in light of Hurricane Katrina. Another criticism of the book made by is also kind but offers a negative comment related to Dyson's style saying that his populist way of writing gets "cute" at times. ("Publishers Weekly Review").

As it pertains to literary criticism Angela P. Dodson of Black Issues Book Review asserts that the book presents a scathing account of the tragedy caused by the Hurricane and the United States Governments failure to act in light of the disaster. Dodson also points out that Eric Dyson does not lay all the blame at the feet of the government; instead he also questions the failure of upper class black people to assist poorer blacks (Dodson, 2006). Dodson also...

Jed Home -- an editor of the New Orleans Times-Picayune offers up other criticisms of the book asserting that some of Dyson's statistics are not reliable particularly as it pertained to the number of people that could not get out of the city because they did not have cars. Home asserts "A lot of the people who stayed behind to ride out Katrina -- rich and poor, black and white -- turned down rides out of town or had cars of their own, making the city's low rate of vehicles per capita a less reliable tool for analyzing the debacle than Dyson suggests (Home, 2006)."
Conclusion

The purpose of this discussion was to explore the life and scholarship of Michael Eric Dyson as it pertains to the book Come Hell or High Water. The research has demonstrated that the book provides keen insight that can be attributed to the life and scholarship of Eric Dyson. The research is also exhaustive in the coming to the conclusion that Come Hell or High Water is insightful in both breadth in depth as it pertains to racial politics and the reaction of the federal government in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Works Cited

Dodson, Angela

May-June, 2006. Book Review Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster

Black Issues Book Review. Retrieved November 25 from; http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HST/is_3_8/ai_n16464220?tag=content;col1

Dyson, Michael Eric. 2006 Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster. Basic Civitas Books,

Home, Jed. Editorial Review of Come Hell or High Water. Retrieved November 25 from; www.amazon.com/Come-Hell-HighWaterHurricane/dp/0465017614/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227658569&sr=1-1

Publishers Weekly Review." Retrieved November 25 from; http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Come-Hell-or-High-Water/Michael-Eric-Dyson/e/9780465017614

Reviews and Praise." Retrieved November 25 from; http://www.michaelericdyson.com/comehell/reviews.php

Michael Eric Dyson." Retrieved November 25 from; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Eric_Dyson