A Paradise Built in Hell The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster

by Solnit, Rebecca

• ISBN13: 9780143118077
• ISBN10: 0143118072
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-08-31
• Publisher: Penguin Books

Summary

"The freshest, deepest, most optimistic account of human nature I've come across in years." -Bill McKibben The most startling thing about disasters, according to award-winning author Rebecca Solnit, is not merely that so many people rise to the occasion, but that they do so with joy. That joy reveals an ordinarily unmet yearning for community, purposefulness, and meaningful work that disaster often provides. A Paradise Built in Hellis an investigation of the moments of altruism, resourcefulness, and generosity that arise amid disaster's grief and disruption and considers their implications for everyday life. It points to a new vision of what society could become-one that is less authoritarian and fearful, more collaborative and local.

Author Biography

Rebecca Solnit is the author of ten books, including River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West and Wanderlust: A History of Walking. In 2003, she received a Lannan Literary Award. She lives in San Francisco.

Table of Contents

Prelude: Falling Together	p. 1
A Millennial Good Fellowship: The San Francisco Earthquake
The Mizpah Café	p. 13
Pauline Jacobson's Joy	p. 23
General Funston's Fear	p. 34
William James's Moral Equivalents	p. 49
Dorothy Day's Other Loves	p. 58
Halifax to Hollywood: The Great Debate
A Tale of Two Princes: The Halifax Explosion and After	p. 73
From the Blitz and the Bomb to Vietnam	p. 98
Hobbes in Hollywood, or the Few Versus the Many	p. 120
Carnival And Revolution: Mexico City's Earthquake
Power from Below	p. 135
Losing the Mandate of Heaven	p. 151
Standing on Top of Golden Hours	p. 165
The City Transfigured: New York In Grief And Glory
Mutual Aid in the Marketplace	p. 183
The Need to Help	p. 195
Nine Hundred and Eleven Questions	p. 211
New Orleans: Common Grounds and Killers
What Difference Would It Make?	p. 231
Murderers	p. 247
Love and Lifeboats	p. 267
Beloved Community	p. 282
Epilogue: The Doorway in the Ruins	p. 305
Gratitude	p. 315
Notes	p. 321
Index	p. 347
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