The Prelude opens with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, describing both the generosity of citizens and the authorities’ decisions not to help citizens because they feared them to be dangerous. Solnit observes that one’s reaction to others in disasters depends partially on how dangerous one believes others to be in comparison to the disaster. Solnit observes, quoting extensive research, that most people behave altruistically after a disaster and only a minority behave badly, and most of these do so because they fear the self-centered or dangerous behavior of others. Throughout the Prelude, Solnit describes several disasters and people’s reaction to them, including San Francisco’s Loma Prieta earthquake and Halifax’s 2003 hurricane. In all, a sense of fulfillment and connection among citizens prevails.

Solnit moves into describing the “social disaster” of the lack of social ties and sense of responsibility that we have for one another in contemporary Western society, in which we often believe humans are selfish. Disasters like Katrina can intensify this feeling or change it to create space for altruistic responses. She introduces the figures of Cain and Abel and the notion of “brother’s keeper” to describe a sense of mutual responsibility for one another. She gives us a rapid version of Genesis, which describes a descent into jealousy and violence soon after the expulsion from Eden.