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.