A Paradise Built in Hell
Books | Social Science / Disasters & Disaster Relief
3.9
Rebecca Solnit
The author of Men Explain Things to Me explores the moments of altruism and generosity that arise in the aftermath of disaster Why is it that in the aftermath of a disaster? whether manmade or natural?people suddenly become altruistic, resourceful, and brave? What makes the newfound communities and purpose many find in the ruins and crises after disaster so joyous? And what does this joy reveal about ordinarily unmet social desires and possibilities? In A Paradise Built in Hell, award-winning author Rebecca Solnit explores these phenomena, looking at major calamities from the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco through the 1917 explosion that tore up Halifax, Nova Scotia, the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. She examines how disaster throws people into a temporary utopia of changed states of mind and social possibilities, as well as looking at the cost of the widespread myths and rarer real cases of social deterioration during crisis. This is a timely and important book from an acclaimed author whose work consistently locates unseen patterns and meanings in broad cultural histories.
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More Details:
Author
Rebecca Solnit
Pages
368
Publisher
Penguin
Published Date
2010-08-31
ISBN
1101459018 9781101459010
Community ReviewsSee all
"I thought it was worth reading. Some stories were more interesting than others. The entire time, I was trying to juxtapose how this framework would play out today with COVID and racial tensions in the US, and it was really hard to imagine. The author has written about COVID and how she sees a lot of the same patterns, so maybe I just need to look harder.<br/><br/>I found the stories about the great explosion and Hurricane Katrina the most interesting. I knew what an abject failure the response to Katrina was, but I was less aware of the blatant race based murders in the name of protecting the community."
P G
Phil Getzen