A Paradise Built in Hell

The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster

By: Rebecca Solnit

Narrated by: Emily Beresford

The 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.

©2009 Rebecca Solnit (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Critic reviews

"The freshest, deepest, most optimistic account of human nature I've come across in years." (Bill McKibben)

Narration Ruined Audiobook

Buy the hard copy. I am returning the book and doing so because the singsong voice of the reader grates.

A must read

Everyone needs to listen to this book! It is truly an eye opener. Two words.

The higher light.

Although a talented reader, the tone of the narrator's voice doesn't reach the higher light in this wonderful book.

Narrator is a problem

The narrator took little to no time to get pronunciation right. The very bad Spanish and French accents are annoying.

The basic thesis of the author merits careful consideration.

Not a great performance

This is a very interesting and worthwhile book. I will try to make the time to finish it on paper. The narrator keeps doing extremely cringe “accents” whenever she’s quoting a non-white American. In Power from Below it became unbearable and I had to shut it off.