Cover art for A Paradise Built in Hell
Published
Granta, August 2025
ISBN
9781803511696
Format
Softcover, 368 pages
Dimensions
19.8cm × 12.9cm

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

Not yet released
Due August 26, 2025.
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How do we respond to disaster? What expressions of care and solidarity might we find among the debris? A Paradise Built in Hell is a study of five major disasters - the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the Halifax explosion of 1917, the Mexico City earthquake of 1985, the 9/11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina - and the expressions of altruism, generosity and resourcefulness that emerged in the wake of these tragedies.

The result is a sweeping history of some of the foundational events in the modern history of North America, and a meditation on community: challenging us to look afresh at society, and what these models of local, collaborative politics might look like carried through into everyday life.

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