Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has a new self-published memoir out today called Katrina’s Secrets: Storms After The Storm (Volume 1). Nagin used Amazon Direct’s self-publishing platform to release the book.

In the above video, Nagin talks to Jon Stewart about how he chose to self publish the book rather than go through a publishing house, after shopping it with a literary agent. He said: “Once you turn over your manuscript to a publisher, you never know what is going to happen.”

The book defends Nagin’s often criticized disaster management approach after Hurricane Katrina. Here is more from the description: “Each hour, Nagin navigated tumultuous political channels, all while survivors clung to rooftops and begged for drinking water. Nagin’s team confronted thousands of calls pleading for rescue; politicos more keen to pose for photos than to pose solutions; broken promises from FEMA; and the violent Superdome; and the controversial acts of some police.”