An American Awakening

A riveting record of an unusual journey by Courtney Cowart, a theologian who witnessed the two greatest catastrophes in recent American history - the 9/11 tragedy at the World Trade Center and the devastation of Hurricane Katrina - and how the author actively participated in the healing of both.

An American Awakening spans the time from September 11, 2001, through the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in 2007. Beginning in New York, this account reveals Cowart's role in the Ground Zero recovery ministry at St. Paul's Chapel, "The Little Church That Stood," across the street from the World Trade Center. This gripping memoir presents the spiritual commitments made when the author's life was spared on 9/11, and how these commitments eventually led her to answer the call to serve in New Orleans. It is an engrossing account of Cowart's experience in post-Katrina New Orleans as director of the Office of Disaster Response for the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana, a post she accepted after her life-changing experience at Ground Zero. Cowart is probably the only American spiritual leader called to a sustained, front-line role in both the 9/11 and Katrina disasters, and this is the first and only memoir of that dual experience.