Stephen, I had a chance to look at the book while doing some last minute shopping. I liked it very much and may pick it up in the future. I think its well done.
If I have my facts correct, Mr. Portera is not the only man photographing the devastation on New Orleans, and Mr. Towell uses film for the images he makes, however the quality and the importance of the work he did for the book does not suffer from what kind of materials he used to produce it. And I may be out on a limb here, but if Mr. Towell is a member here, I wouldn't know because I haven't read any of his posts telling other members to stop posting about another photographers work because it may have not been shot using film...just a guess.