Your Call 091609 Why do disasters bring out the best in us?

Why do disasters so often bring out the best in people? On the next Your Call we speak with writer, critic and activist Rebecca Solnit about her new book A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster. She tells the story of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake, Halifax Nova Scotia after a devastating munitions explosion that shattered windows 50 miles away, 9-11 and New Orleans after the levies failed among other disasters. In that time of shock and dislocation, when everything familiar has been leveled, Solnit found generosity, altruism, heroism and joy.

Send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org or join us live at 11 a.m. What is it about catastrophe that frees people to be good? It's Your Call with Sandip Roy and you.

Guest:
Rebecca Solnit in San Francisco
Writes about the environment, politics, place, and art from her home here in San Francisco. Solnit has received many awards for her writing: a Guggenheim Fellowship, an NEA Fellowship for Literature and the 2004 Wired Rave Award for writing. Her latest book is called A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster.

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