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From the author of Men Explain Things to Me – “A landmark book that gives impassioned challenge to the social meaning of disasters” (The New York Times Book Review)
"The freshest, deepest, most optimistic account of human nature I've come across in years."
-Bill McKibben
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
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.
- Sales Rank: #91698 in Books
- Brand: Penguin Books
- Published on: 2010-08-31
- Released on: 2010-08-31
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.50" h x .80" w x 5.40" l, .67 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 368 pages
- Penguin Books
From Publishers Weekly
Natural and man-made disasters can be utopias that showcase human solidarity and point the way to a freer society, according this stimulating contrarian study. Solnit (River of Shadows) reproves civil defense planners, media alarmists and Hollywood directors who insist that disasters produce terrified mobs prone to looting, murder and cannibalism unless controlled by armed force and government expertise. Surveying disasters from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake to 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, she shows that the typical response to calamity is spontaneous altruism, self-organization and mutual aid, with neighbors and strangers calmly rescuing, feeding and housing each other. Indeed, the main problem in such emergencies, she contends, is the elite panic of officials who clamp down with National Guardsmen and stifling regulations. Solnit falters when she generalizes her populist brief into an anarchist critique of everyday society that lapses into fuzzy what-ifs and uplifting volunteer testimonials. Still, this vividly written, cogently argued book makes a compelling—and timely—case for the ability of ordinary people to collectively surmount the direst of challenges. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
"Thought-provoking . . . captivating and compelling . . . there's a hopeful, optimistic, even contagious quality to this superb book."
--Los Angeles Times
"In her far-reaching and large-spirited new book, 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
"Stirring . . . fascinating . . . presents a withering critique of modern capitalist society by examining five catastrophes . . . Her account of these events are so stirring that her book is worth reading for its storytelling alone. . . . [An] exciting and important contribution to our understanding of ourselves."
--The Washington Post
About the Author
Rebecca Solnit is the author of numerous books, including Hope in the Dark, River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West, Wanderlust: A History of Walking, and As Eve Said to the Serpent: On Landscape, Gender, and Art, which was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism. In 2003, she received the prestigious Lannan Literary Award.
Most helpful customer reviews
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful.
Good ideas, but not nuanced
By Beaux
This is a great book and Solnit is a VERY good writer. Her basic premise is spot on, and accurate as far as I have seen. Where I have to disagree with her and rate it at 2 stars is that she sees nothing beyond her agenda. It seems that she takes every example she encounters and turns it into a proof of her premise. She hammers and hammers her ideas, without any space to allow for the possibility that there may be people who have a different experience that falls outside her premise. Some people act badly during crisis. Most rise to the occasion. Some don't. I would like to see space for a variety of experience in this very important book. I gave it 2 stars because it is one sided, but it is an important take on the presumptions of people who plan for disaster and should be required reading at FEMA and Homeland Security. That'll be the day.
You should buy it if you think people are opportunists who will riot at any chance they get. It will open your eyes to an alternate truth. Just be prepared for one perspective only.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Everyone Should Read This Book -- Perhaps Especially Public Officials
By Elizabeth L. Seaton Frankfort
Rebecca Skolnit's book should become important to us, because we already seem to be working our way through what could well become a whole series of disasters and catastrophes (thanks to the author for clarifying the distinction).
It seems sociologists have been studying disasters for decades, and they've determined that in the face of sudden disaster, histories of specific events show that *the assumption that a collapse of the structures of authority and official response will result in mob behavior* is in terrible error -- it's a myth, an urban legend. Instead, it seems that our neighbors are much more likely to act altruistically and creatively. They are most likely to rapidly improvise ways to effect rescue, meet immediate needs and organize ad hoc encampments and communities that support survival and safety. Describing these grassroots social spaces and the negative reaction of authorities with a clear voice and generous dollops of humor and irony, Skolnit sees in these self-generated kitchens and aid stations a beautiful hint of what our lives could be, if left to our own devices. I love her voice -- and she's a riveting storyteller.
On the other hand, the elites have left behind a marked, bloody history of foolish decisions, well-armed panic and overreaction, fed by a dangerous mythology of looting mobs. Skolnit has confirmed something that should be obvious to those of us who remember the lies we were fed by the media, later disproved: there's a difference between "requisitioning needed supplies" in an emergency and "opportunistic theft", which constitutes looting. Time and again, it seems elites have deployed martial forces against a population struggling to survive, help not particularly on the way.
I loved reading the accounts of people's responses to Hurricane Katrina, 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy in comparison to events much earlier in the century, like The San Francisco Earthquake and the explosion of munitions in Halifax -- healthy, heroic parallels that are moving to read. It was good to see the heroism of women and underprivileged youngsters acknowledged. It was good to trace the philosophical underpinnings of our respective stances -- for and against 'the mob'. Initially interested in another of this author's titles, I HAD to read this one first, having been a first responder in years gone by. It spoke to my experience of bystanders' readiness to be of help -- or at least, to bear caring witness.
PS -- Presently, I've got a student who, until recently, was studying to be a cop. This goal was called into question by events in Ferguson and the on-going struggle along the border -- but even more by *the increasingly general militarization of the police*. This is something he doesn't want to be a part of, so he's changed his major to sociology, without particularly knowing where to go with it. I'm thinking of buying my student this book. Maybe it will help him clarify things.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Changing Our Paradigm
By Moon Cat
Everyone in Los Angeles needs to read this book before the next big earthquake. In fact, all Americans should be reading this book to counteract the myth of the rioting, murderous, panicking, selfish people who will go berserk during a disaster and need the government and troops to control them and restore order. When the actual disasters are studied, as in this amazing book, the reality is that people come together in close community and direct their own rescue, survival and distribution of resources with a feeling of altruism, generosity, self-sacrifice, and love. As you read through you see that most of the panicking and selfish behavior is coming from the Elites and the government who are greatly disturbed by the people getting along without them. Often when they do intervene it is to the detriment of the devastated community, and sociologists refer to it as "Elite Panic".
Disasters covered include the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, the Mexico City Earthquake, the Managua Nicaragua Earthquake, New York City 9/11, and New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina amongst other disasters. Unfortunately for Hollywood Movies, Anya Rand followers, and selfish promoters of I will survive at your expense, the general public is humane, helpful, and caring. The apocalypse, world disasters and other fear based mythology about the animal nature of mankind surging out to destroy civilization is just that: a useful tool for legitimizing government power. Read this book and perhaps we can replace the myth with the truth of our species. We are social, loving, caring and function best as community groups. It is in relationship to others that we find our value.
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