Dave Eggers' novel Zeitoun is labeled as a work of nonfiction. It tells the story of a Syrian-American man named Abdulrahman Zeitoun, also known as Zeitoun, who chose to stay in New Orleans to weather one of the worst natural disasters in American history, Hurricane Katrina. Zeitoun, a family man and devoted to his business, remained in town as the hurricane approached to protect not only his home and business, but also the property of his neighbors and friends. After the storm he traveled around the flooded city in a second-hand canoe, rescuing neighbors, caring for abandoned pets and distributing fresh water. Soon after the storm, Zeitoun and three others were arrested without reason or explanation at one of his rented homes by a mixed group of U.S. Army National Guard soldiers and local police officers. In the novel Eggers created an accurate portrayal of the events of racial profiling and looting, this becomes evident when watching Spike Lee's documentary, When the Levees Broke. In the novel, Zeitoun was arrested, racially profiled, and labeled a terrorist and a looter. Dave Eggers tells us that Zeitoun, Todd, Nasser and Ronnie were arrested at gunpoint and later charged with looting a local Walgreen store and terrorist activities. They are under suspicion because Zeitoun and Nasser are Muslims from Syria and Nasser and Todd had large sums of money in their possession. This confirms the suspicions of higher authorities regarding the looting of local shops by the so-called terrorists, while in reality they were helping local citizens and animals to safety. Because they were labeled as terrorists, they were denied phone calls, medical care and proper care. As we read in Zeitoun and saw in Spike Lee's film When the Levees Broke, African Ameri...... middle of paper ......and the Eggers looting events are an accurate portrayal in Spike Lee's documentary When the Levees Broke.Works CitedEggers, Dave. Zeitoun. San Francisco: McSweeney's, 2009. Print.Niman, Michael I. “KATRINA'S AMERICA: Failure, Racism, and Profit.” Humanist 65.6 (2005): 11. MasterFILE Premier. Network. November 26, 2013. Patterson, Victoria. “Did Dave Eggers get “Zeitoun” wrong?” http://www.salon.com/. THE BOOK REVIEW, 9 December 2012. Web. 23 November 2013. .When the banks broke: a requiem in four acts. Dir. Spike Lee. HBO, 2006. Documentary.