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

Acclaimed author, historian, and activist Rebecca Solnit has written over 20 books on a wide range of topics. Solnit was inspired to write this book after living through the Loma Prieta earthquake in California as a young woman and feeling surprised at the positive emotions she and others felt during and after the event. The more she studied disasters, the more frequently she saw evidence of positive, strong communities despite the insistence of the authorities and the media to the contrary. After Hurricane Katrina, Solnit went to New Orleans to document the situation and to help publicize the story of the vigilante murders of Black men and women that had been underreported in the media. Solnit’s experience as an investigative journalist and political writer poised her well to write this book, which provides a counter-narrative to mainstream discourse on human nature and disaster response.

Day was an anarchist, journalist, and activist who founded the Catholic Worker movement. Her experience as a young child of the “human warmth and kindliness” following the San Francisco earthquake made a great impression on her (94). Her story is one of many featuring people who were changed for the better because of the earthquake and many other disasters.