A Paradise Built in Hell The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster

"The freshest, deepest, most optimistic account of human nature I've come across in years." -Bill McKibben 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 Hellis 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.

Rebecca Solnit is the author of ten books, including River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West and Wanderlust: A History of Walking. In 2003, she received a Lannan Literary Award. She lives in San Francisco.