A Paradise Built in Hell

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 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.