eBook
English language
Published July 10, 2009 by Penguin USA, Inc..
A startling investigation ofwhat people do in disastersand why it mattersWhy is it that in the aftermath of a disaster—whether manmade or natural—people suddenlybecome altruistic, resourceful, and brave? What makesthe newfound communities and purpose many findin the ruins and crises after disaster so joyous? Andwhat does this joy reveal about ordinarily unmet socialdesires and possibilities?In A Paradise Built in Hell, award-winning authorRebecca Solnit explores these phenomena, lookingat major calamities from the 1906 earthquake in SanFrancisco through the 1917 explosion that tore upHalifax, Nova Scotia, the 1985 Mexico City earthquake,9/11, and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Sheexamines how disaster throws people into a temporaryutopia of changed states of mind and social possibilities,as well as looking at the cost of the widespread mythsand rarer real cases of social deterioration during...
There are few books I would say are must-reads. I wish everyone would read this book. Solnit does an amazing job recounting some of the worst disasters (mainly in the U.S.) over the past 100 years. In doing so, she paints a picture that contrasts the state response to disaster with the ways that everyday folks build paradises in hell. An amazing book well conceived and well written. 5/5
