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

“Who are you? Who are we? In times of crisis, these are life-and-death questions.” 

These three sentences begin the Prelude. Immediately, the important concept of identity that will be revisited throughout the book is introduced. In beginning with these sweeping questions, Solnit lets us know that this book takes up philosophical and moral questions about belonging, identity, and selfhood. We are introduced to a self/other dichotomy whose consequences will be explored throughout the text when strong communities strengthen their bonds through mutual aid, or when a more powerful group takes advantage of the situation to harm a less powerful one. Authorities’ fear of “others,” such as poor Black people during Hurricane Katrina, can truly kill.

“When God asks Cain where his brother is, Cain asks back, ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ He is refusing to say what God already knows: that the spilled blood of Abel cries out from the ground that has absorbed it.” 

Solnit’s biblical references begin with the book of Genesis in the opening of her book. Here, she uses references familiar to many readers to illustrate the point that a just society is one in which we are all our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. Cain’s refusal to take responsibility for his brother’s death is used to illustrate that contemporary society encourages citizens to look out only for themselves, a “private” perspective with little sense of collective responsibility. By invoking the Bible, Solnit uses a familiar moral authority to make arguments that some would consider radical.