A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in DisasterA New York Times Notable Book Chosen as a Best Book of the Year by the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, New Yorker, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post, and Chicago Tribune “A landmark book that gives impassioned challenge to the social meaning of disasters” —The New York Times Book Review “Solnit argues that disasters are opportunities as well as oppressions, each one a summons to rediscover the powerful engagement and joy of genuine altruism, civic life, grassroots community, and meaningful work.” —San Francisco Chronicle A stirring investigation into what happens in the aftermath of disaster, from the author of Orwell's Roses 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 Hell is 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. |
Contents
Falling Together | 1 |
Pauline Jacobsons Joy | 23 |
General Funstons Fear | 34 |
William Jamess Moral Equivalents | 49 |
Dorothy Days Other Loves | 58 |
THE GREAT DEBATE | 71 |
From the Blitz and the Bomb to Vietnam | 98 |
Hobbes in Hollywood or the Few Versus the Many 20 | 120 |
The Need to Help | 195 |
Nine Hundred and Eleven Questions | 211 |
Murderers | 247 |
Love and Lifeboats | 267 |
Beloved Community | 282 |
The Doorway in the Ruins | 305 |
Gratitude | 315 |
Notes | 321 |
Other editions - View all
A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster Rebecca Solnit No preview available - 2010 |
A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster Rebecca Solnit No preview available - 2009 |
Common terms and phrases
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