A Paradise Built in Hell : The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster (Hardcover)

from bibleblaster

Great look at how people act in the midst of disaster, catastrophe, crisis. Lord of the Flies it ain't. People act far better than we are led to expect. And people in power act far worse. If you think beliefs about human nature don't have real-world ramifications, think again...and read the book.

from davidroche

There seems no better time to launch into the writing of Rebecca Solnit than now, and I have sought out A Paradise Built in Hell (Penguin). Here she examines several disasters – The San Francisco Earthquake, London in The Blitz, Hurricane Katrina, 9/11 – and examines the amazing sense of communit...

from BillPilgrim

Solnit's thesis is that people come together in times of crisis and work for the common good, and that any belief that people more commonly act in their own self interest at such times, and become looters and hoarders, is overstated. Much more likely to occur is an "elite panic" that casts the pe...

from Janientrelac

Solnit has an axe to grind, the supidity of governments and their problems coping with disasters and i can't argue with her about that. the concept of "elite panic" is excellent, and illuminating. The theme about how much individuals enjoy the process of coping with a disaster, how "good" it is f...

from JanesList

If we are able to find joy in banding together, helping each other, and being creative and useful in disasters, what stops us from doing it in regular life? How is the vicious-savage/weeping-mess victim myth perpetuated, and how can we prevent it from causing more damage when an actual disaster o...