A startling investigation of what people do in disasters and why it matters
Why is it that in the aftermath of a disaster- whether m... read full description
Why is it that in the aftermath of a disaster- whether m... read full description
reviews
May 23, 2011
David
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Before reading this book I was not a fan of Rebecca Solnit. Upon the insistent recommendation of several friends who rarely steer me wrong, a few years ago I bought a copy of her earlier book about Eadweard Muybridge ("River of Shadows") and found it completely unreadable. I could sense that Solnit was smart, but it was as if she were speaking in tongues - wading through her prose was sheer torment. So I ditched it.
About a month ago I heard her speak about this latest book More...
About a month ago I heard her speak about this latest book More...
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Apr 10, 2011
Uneven in its ideas and writing, but ultimately compelling.
Solnit convincingly argues that we're not rampaging maniacs in times of crisis--quite the opposite, in fact--but her effort to use the temporary euphoria we feel immediately after a crisis as a model of what Utopia ought to feel like is not wholly convincing. Do we really want to live in a society where intense and euphoric present-oriented solidarity and unity are *always* in the foreground of our consciousness? Do we want to More...
Solnit convincingly argues that we're not rampaging maniacs in times of crisis--quite the opposite, in fact--but her effort to use the temporary euphoria we feel immediately after a crisis as a model of what Utopia ought to feel like is not wholly convincing. Do we really want to live in a society where intense and euphoric present-oriented solidarity and unity are *always* in the foreground of our consciousness? Do we want to More...
Feb 21, 2010
Richard
rated it: 
Don't be put off or confused by this title! Rebecca Solnit writes a gripping and engrossing account of how people and communities respond to disasters by working together to help each other, why community response can make all the difference in changing the course of a disaster, and how fear, the media, and poorly thought out top-down responses can hurt, rather than help, these efforts.
Solnit examines a range of disasters from the San Francisco earthquake a hundred years ago to Katr More...
Solnit examines a range of disasters from the San Francisco earthquake a hundred years ago to Katr More...
Jan 26, 2010
Dan
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not solnit's best book, but still pretty remarkable. it's tough not to think of naomi klein's the shock doctrine while reading it. in a sense, it's a correction to some of klein's assumptions about community response in the face of catastrophes. both writers are extremely skeptical about neoliberal "relief" efforts - as well as state power in general. but solnit's perspective is more optimistic about grassroots organization - as well as more directly simpathetic to anarchism than her e
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Feb 17, 2010
James
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I liked it. I read it right after "The Shock Doctrine" and while that book was, well, shocking, this book's main theme is hope in the middle of hopelessness. It shatters the myth that people's natural inclination during disasters and catastrophes is to turn on each other, with looting and murdering and destructive behavior. On the contrary, the vast majority turn to help each other in acts of solidarity. Money and possessions don't matter anymore, and people share food and shelter. Its
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Nov 12, 2011
Teresa
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Read this for our latest book club selection. My first book read on a Nook. (When I really got into the story, I kept forgetting how to turn the pages at first!) This reads like a sociology text book where the author is attempting to prove a theory. Her basic theory is as I quote Anne Frank "because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart." She wants to prove that in times of disaster, people's instincts are intrinsically better than what movie
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Sep 03, 2010
Extensive discussion of major disasters, including 9/11, earthquakes in Mexico and Nicaragua, Halifax explosion. Most interesting is the discussion of "elite panic," which is the reaction of the powers that be. Fear of loss of control, prioritizing property over human life, and racism are hallmarks of elite panice and Solnit is especially damning of the reaction to Katrina -- reading about how the people of New Orleans were treated will radicalize you. Also interesting that groups o
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Oct 19, 2009
Paula
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I am a big fan of Solnit’s and consider her River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West one of my all time favorites. For the first two thirds of A Paradise Built in Hell, however,I found the repetition of the author's main point that quasi-utopian communities often, or even almost always, arise during disasters a bit tedious. Most interesting to me were the details of the particular disasters themselves. I appreciated the accounts rather more than the theorizing. Sol
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Apr 25, 2010
Alexa
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Solnit argues that disasters (earthquakes, fires, floods, explosions) result in a kind of temporary utopia in which the majority of people take care of each other, sacrifice and think of community good over personal gain. She also argues that disaster upsets the hierarchical structure of a society and allows for the voiceless to rise up and be heard. And that the elites and those in power often expect the worse in people, fearing that their economic and political clout will be "stol More...
Jul 26, 2011
Donovan
rated it:
Solitary, Poor, Nasty, Brutish, and Short
In his groundbreaking work, Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes famously states, “the life of man [is] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” Describing life outside of a political institution, Hobbes believes that humanity resorts to a chaotic competition for scarce resources. Under this assumption, Hobbes argues for the existence of social contracts and, ultimately, the importance of an absolute sovereign.
A Selfless Humanity
With A More...
In his groundbreaking work, Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes famously states, “the life of man [is] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” Describing life outside of a political institution, Hobbes believes that humanity resorts to a chaotic competition for scarce resources. Under this assumption, Hobbes argues for the existence of social contracts and, ultimately, the importance of an absolute sovereign.
A Selfless Humanity
With A More...
Jul 21, 2010
Solnit's thesis is that disaster creates the possibility of new communities arising through the engagement of people working together in adhoc fashion. She also firmly believes volunteers perform better than institutions. I was at first reluctant to believe it. She uses many historical disasters-the 1906 SF earthquake, the 1917 Halifax explosion and the 1985 Mexico earthquake- to prove her point showing that elites are top heavy and obsessed with the threat of looting. But she's best in analysin
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Jan 02, 2012
I have only finished the preface at this point, but I am excited and enlivened by what I have read so far. Solint writes, "The possibility of paradise hovers on the cusp of coming into being, so much so that it takes powerful forces to keep such paradise at bay." She's critiquing the erroneous belief perpetuated by those in power and the media that ultimately it is a "dog eat dog world" - a belief that is proven false time and time again in the human responses to disaster. I
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Dec 13, 2010
Jays
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I really liked the perspective of this book and found it interesting to finally hear a different narrative about how people respond to disasters. The few bad apples theory of violence and crime is probably pretty accurate, so it's nice to have someone presenting a counter-argument.
Only two things kept me from reviewing this more favorably; The first is that the book tends to go off the rails at times into examples that are only tangentially related to the thesis, but seem to reinforc More...
Only two things kept me from reviewing this more favorably; The first is that the book tends to go off the rails at times into examples that are only tangentially related to the thesis, but seem to reinforc More...
Nov 06, 2010
Kathleen
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Really interesting book. Solnit organizes this book around the four main disasters mentioned in the synopsis (the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, 1917 explosion in Halifax, 1985 Mexico City earthquake, and Hurricane Katrina). However, she branches off into many other disasters along the way. At times this was confusing. I would end up reading about the great 18th century Lisbon earthquake and be like, wait a minute, how did I get here (although that was interesting, too)?
Solnit also ed More...
Solnit also ed More...
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Nov 20, 2009
Dynamo
rated it: 
Had read it for a sociology class, and found it disappointing in terms of a subject for research and theories. Solnit depends on other sources/sociologists to build her work, and when her voice does come through, it is largely political and hyperbolic. That said, the first half of the book was illuminating, especially in light of viewing disasters which are more so historical and not fresh in the purview of contemporary issues. Anyone who has read a newspaper or watched the media during Katrina,
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Dec 21, 2009
Michelle
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fascinating book. Optimistic view of every-man, explores our cultural and class biases. And our dramatized view of disaster--which needs to expanded, especially for the elites to lead/ or let lead/ to less harm. --which seems to be happening somewhat, i.e., San Francisco disaster training. Fascinating how our different cultures respond with a similiar human response that reflects our cultures.
Thoroughly enjoyed,the entire book. Though found the first half interesting, it was a l More...
Thoroughly enjoyed,the entire book. Though found the first half interesting, it was a l More...
Nov 14, 2009
Joan
rated it:
I finished this book today, and it jogged my memory to add Zeitoun by Dave Eggers to my books read this year.
Rebecca Solnit is one of my favorite authors, and I have listened to several interviews with her on PBS, including one about this book. I don't think she's a natural optimist, but her thesis here is convincing. Sections IV and V, about 9/11 in New York City and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, are particularly compelling.
What I remember from an earlier radio inter More...
Rebecca Solnit is one of my favorite authors, and I have listened to several interviews with her on PBS, including one about this book. I don't think she's a natural optimist, but her thesis here is convincing. Sections IV and V, about 9/11 in New York City and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, are particularly compelling.
What I remember from an earlier radio inter More...
Nov 04, 2009
Lakshmi
rated it:
Solnit's theme is a most-timely one for those of us interested in up-ending current myths about how people experience and behave during disasters. She brings together extensive quotations from those who broke this ground: Henry James, Dorothy Day, Peter Kropotkin, and the sociologists of disaster studies. The only reason she hasn't got five stars is that her prose begins to tire somewhere in the middle. When she gets away from the people -- the first person narratives she gleaned from newspap
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Jul 02, 2009
christopher
rated it:
This book is pretty incredible, and I would recommend it to anyone. The argument builds from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake (and subsequent fire) to Hurricane Katrina, through many stops in between, showing how civilized society is a very thin veneer beneath which lies... community and familial love. Looting and panic and random hysterical violence is largely a hyperbole of the very frightened elite. So the touchpoint, throughout, is that the real disaster is a society which keeps people a
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Jul 29, 2011
I like the myth buster approach to how people react acutely in disaster, and I would love to see some policy change arise out of our poor national respionse to Katrina, how there is not a possible rapid national response--that it is inherently delayed, and to develop guidelines for local response that do not assume that every one will be looiting and allow that in times of food and water shortages that there is a need to use what is avaialbe, things like that. What I was less enthusiastic about
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Jul 08, 2011
Chrisiant
rated it: 
Couldn't get caught up in this one - it had promise, but the layout of information felt very scatterplot, and the arguments the author made peppered throughout the supporting information, making it hard to follow. It felt as if she kept interrupting the story of what folks did in a particular disaster to assert why this supported her assertions, instead of laying out the info and the drawing the conclusions all at once. I only got through the first disaster section, and I might go back and give
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May 13, 2011
Chris
rated it:
I read this book and something shifted. It has changed my perspective.
The back cover describes it well: This book "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."
Solnit uses first person accounts and news reports as we More...
The back cover describes it well: This book "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."
Solnit uses first person accounts and news reports as we More...
Jun 18, 2011
Sarah
rated it:
I have long believed that as a general rule, the vast majority of people handle disasters generously and altruistically. This books provides the evidence to back me up. It also talks about how the specter of looters or violence is useful for government agencies to invoke in order to more easily control the population, both before and after any kind of infrastructure breakdown. But in most cases, spontaneously arranged responses to emergencies are more effective than top-down organized responses,
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Nov 19, 2009
SOOOOO excited to start reading this! My favorite writer by far. She's always giving me concrete reasons to try to reform my cynical, curmudgeonly ways.. a very hard task, but she is just so darned smart and charming. And superbly honest about difficult subjects, which is really what wins me over. Looking forward to being inspired once again!
About halfway through:
I'm kinda disappointed! I don't feel like the book has really started yet, more gone through the motions of int More...
About halfway through:
I'm kinda disappointed! I don't feel like the book has really started yet, more gone through the motions of int More...
Feb 05, 2012
Joe
rated it:
This is a fascinating and unusual book, by turns history, biography, critical essay and polemic. Rebecca Solnit has studied a wide array of disasters ranging from earthquakes in San Francisco and Mexico City, a Halifax, Nova Scotia ship explosion, London during the Blitz and the 9/11 attacks. Contrary to conventional belief, she finds that survivors, more than being traumatized, experience an ecstatic sense of human connection, meaning and community. In the face of disaster, people throw aside p
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Jan 10, 2012
Virginia
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This book is an really good argument for community empowerment and positive actions that highlight most peoples’ innate desire and competence to assist each other in disasters, rather than the top down dominator savagery that authorities use through bureaucracies to control, and more often than not, harm populations with the execution of the worst violence and injustices. The main thesis is that civil society is what is best at saving and aiding afflicted populations, rather than top down contro
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Jun 21, 2011
Danica
rated it:
"Frankl concluded that it is a “dangerous misconception of mental hygiene to assume that what man needs in the first place is equilibrium or, as it is called in biology, ‘homeostasis’, i.e. a tensionless state. What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him….If architects want to s
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Oct 29, 2010
Liza
rated it:
Full disclosure: I was raised by Hobbesians. Now I certainly do not consider myself a Hobbseian in any size, shape, or form, but there are vestiges of those beliefs that I struggle with all the time. That said, I do not understand why we must take the side of Hobbes or Locke. Yes, sometimes people act valiantly in disaster, and sometimes they do not. Sometimes communities develop, and sometimes enmity rules. It depends on context and background, and you do not know how someone will act until the
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Apr 10, 2010
Pat
rated it:
This book goes deeper and in different directions than you might think. It is the kind of book I like, hard to pigeonhole. Gives you a unique perspective on government, human nature, and the difference between the kind of communities we live in and the kind we are intended to live in. What spiritual attitudes are called into play in a disaster? Why do people find disaster response so compelling and rewarding?
Jul 24, 2011
While I'm still not convinced that people don't turn into Lord of the Flies at every unsupervised opportunity, this book makes a strong case that people are basically altruistic in the face of catastrophe, and that it is official intervention that makes them go batshit. However, I promised to make an effort to be charitable for the holidays and will believe in the case studies in print, if not in reality.
