NOTES ABOUT THE QUR’AN QUOTED HEREIN
Many translations of the Qur’an into English exist and many were consulted. The translation quoted in this book is by Laleh Bakhtiar, published in 2007 by Kazi Publications under the title The Sublime Quran. As is evidenced in the quotations included in this book, the Qur’an contains very powerful and surpassingly beautiful language, and this English edition reflects that beauty exceedingly well.
AUTHOR NOTES ON PROCESS AND METHODOLOGY
The process behind this book started in 2005, when, shortly after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, a team of volunteers from Voice of Witness, our series of books that use oral history to illuminate human rights crises, fanned out all over the Southeast to collect testimonies. From Houston to Florida, they interviewed residents and former residents of New Orleans about their lives before, during, and after the storm. The result was Voices from the Storm, edited by Chris Ying and Lola Vollen and published by McSweeney’s/Voice of Witness in 2005. The book featured vivid narratives from dozens of New Orleanians, including Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun. His story stuck with me, and the next time I was in New Orleans, to speak to students at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (a great high school arts program), I visited the Zeitouns. From our first talk, it was clear that there was more to their story than we were able to include in Voices from the Storm. And so began an almost-three-year process of interviews and research that went into Zeitoun. During that time, I was able to get to know Abdulrahman and Kathy, as well as their beautiful family here and in Syria.
Additional notes:
All events are seen through the eyes of either Abdulrahman or Kathy Zeitoun, so the view of events reflects their recollections. Todd Gambino was also a participant in the writing and fact-checking of this book. All conversations are reconstructed from the memories of the participants.
Interviews with Officers Donald Lima and Ralph Gonzales were conducted by the author in 2008.
I visited the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in 2008. It seemed to be a very well-run prison, a progressive and rational place with a keen eye toward rehabilitation and re-entry, and toward giving prisoners the opportunity to advance their educations, whether academic or vocational. And yet Adbulrahman’s experience there was not acceptable. I don’t intend to denounce the operation of that prison; perhaps the institution was simply overwhelmed after Katrina and fell short of its higher standards.
AUTHOR THANKS
Chris Ying and Lola Vollen laid the groundwork for this book and deserve vast thanks for encouraging me to pursue this story further. Billy Sothern, the New Orleans lawyer and author who conducted the initial interviews with Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun for Voices from the Storm, deserves profound thanks. He was a constant guide and mentor during the writing of Zeitoun, and his own book, Down in New Orleans, was both inspiration and roadmap. As deputy director of the Capital Appeals Project, he continues to fight every day in the defense of those left vulnerable to the judicial system’s frailties and oversights. Annie Preziosi of the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center provided expert research at crucial junctures. Her colleague at LCAC, Julie Kilborn, was very helpful in providing context for the arrests and processing of prisoners after Katrina. Thanks also go to Pam Metzger at the Tulane University Law School and to Nikki Page, whose hospitality and warmth was appreciated always. Anne Gisleson, extraordinary New Orleans writer and teacher and activist, provided invaluable guidance and encouragement and was an expert reader of the manuscript. The courageous Todd Gambino provided fact-checking and context and important details. Elissa Bassist provided key and voluminous research early on. Yousef Munayyer and Mohammed Khalil provided gentle guidance in Arabic and Islamic matters. Naor Ben-Yehoyada provided expert counsel on the history and practice of lampara fishing. Farah Aldabbagh translated a rare book about Mohammed Zeitoun from Arabic to English in a timely and expert manner. Peter Orner and Stephen Elliott provided surgical notes and deeply appreciated encouragement. Proofing and copyediting was provided by Lindsay Quella, Juliet Litman, Tess Thackara, Emily Stackhouse, and Henry Jones. Thanks to all at McSweeney’s—Jordan Bass, Heidi Meredith, Angela Petrella, Eli Horowitz, Mimi Lok, and especially to Andrew Leland, whose early read of the manuscript was crucial. Extraordinary and tenacious fact-checking was also performed by the indefatigable Chris Benz. Michelle Quint, associate editor at McSweeney’s, was the day-to-day research director for this book. Her dedication, reliability, intelligence, and efficiency will never be forgotten, as this book would have been impossible without her. And of course life generally would not be possible without my wife Vendela, our children, and my brothers Bill and Toph.
Finally, profound thanks go to the Zeitouns of America, Spain, and Syria. Captain Ahmad Zeton—there are many ways to spell the name—and his family in Málaga, Spain (Laila, Lutfi, and Antonia) were generous hosts and brought forth crucial memories. Ahmad was not only a champion of this project from the beginning, but also a meticulous record-keeper, and his photos, emails, and calls from before and after the storm were invaluable. Warm thanks and greetings go to the Zeitoun family in Syria, and to Qusay and young Mahmoud in Jableh in particular. The hospitality of all the Zeitouns knew no limits, and the beauty and laughter and warmth permeating every part of their extraordinary clan was inspiring and enriched this book and this author beyond measure. Most of all, thanks go to Abdulrahman and Kathy, and to their remarkable children, for their stunning personal generosity and for their unwavering commitment to the writing of this book. The process of bringing their story to print required a great deal of them, but they fought through unpleasant memories in the hopes that something constructive might come from their days of personal struggle. Their courage knows no bounds, and their faith in family and in this country renews the faith of us all.
FIRST VINTAGE BOOKS EDITION, JUNE 2010
Copyright © 2009 by Dave Eggers
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
Published in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published in hardcover in the United States by McSweeney’s Books, San Francisco, in 2009.
Vintage and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Eggers, Dave.
Zeitoun / Dave Eggers.—1st Vintage Books ed.
p. cm.
Originally published: San Francisco : McSweeney’s Books, c2009.
eISBN: 978-0-307-73943-8
1. Zeitoun, Abdulrahman, 1957– 2. Zeitoun, Kathy. 3. New Orleans (La.)—Biography. 4. Disaster victims—Louisiana—New Orleans—Biography. 5. Arab Americans—Louisiana—New Orleans—Biography. 6. Hurricane Katrina, 2005—Social aspects—Louisiana—New Orleans. 7. Arab Americans—Social conditions—Louisiana—New Orleans. I. Title.
F379.N553Z454 2010
305.892′7076335—dc22
2010000757
www.vintagebooks.com
v3.0
Dave Eggers, Zeitoun
(Series: # )
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