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A Paradise Built In Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise In Disaster (2009)

by Rebecca Solnit(Favorite Author)

3.84 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0670021075 (ISBN13: 9780670021079)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Viking Adult

review 1: I slogged through this because I find the research compelling - I like the idea of positive, altruistic communities arising in the wake of disasters rather than the brutal, selfish gangs that may be expected. Solnit invokes some fascinating case studies & research (the Bedford Magazine Explosion, the San Francisco quake, and several more), but the writing and the treatment of these topics proves deeply flawed. Solnit frequently left me with unsatisfying generalizations about 'people feeling joy', 'people helping people,' etc., that lack solid evidence and ignore the inevitably complex, disparate responses of disaster victims. She clearly chooses the evidence she wants to support an argument that slips from simplistic to occasionally interesting - as when she suggests that ... moresocial elites' response to crises is embedded in an underlying brand of social darwinism - but she fails to develop a strong argument and seems overwhelmed by the amount of data she's collected. Would not recommend.
review 2: I think this book is worth reading solely for the oral histories from which the author quotes. Also, her perspective is refreshing and inspiring... even for someone who doesn't necessarily have a very rosy view of human nature, or think that people's best selves come out in disaster... (see Irene Nemirovsky for example) the truth may be that it often does, or that it is more dependent on the overall culture, and that it is not the demonized who are actually the ones acting that way. I started this book a long time ago but read the majority of it recently, and I thought it was a little bit repetitive, but that I might not have thought that if I had read it more slowly, then it might have just been able to make its point. Also, I tend to like books like this with MORE oral history and less direct conclusion-making on the part of the author. however, all together, good good good. read it. borrow it from me! less

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