Solnit Rebecca. A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster

New York: Penguin, 2010. — 368 p. — ISBN13: 978-0143118077; ISBN10: 0143118072The 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.Prelude: Falling TogetherA Millennial Good Fellowship: The San Francisco EarthquakeThe Mizpah Café
Pauline Jacobson’s Joy
General Funston’s Fear
William James’s Moral Equivalents
Dorothy Day’s Other LovesHalifax to HOllywood: The Great DebateA Tale of Two Princes: The Halifax Explosion and After
From the Blitz and the Bomb to Vietnam
Hobbes in Hollywood, or the Few Versus the ManyCarnival and Revolution: Mexico City’S EarthquakePower from Below
Losing the Mandate of Heaven
Standing on Top of Golden HoursThe City Transfigured: New York in Grief and GloryMutual Aid in the Marketplace
The Need to Help
Nine Hundred and Eleven QuestionsNew Orleans: Common Grounds and KillersWhat Difference Would It Make?
Murderers
Love and Lifeboats
Beloved Community
Epilogue: The Doorway in the Ruins
GratitudeNotes