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.