Looking at major calamities from the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco through Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, she discovers moments of altruism, resourcefulness, and generosity that arise amid grief and disruption and considers their implications for everyday life.
She appeared at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco in 2010, on the release of her two books, Paradise in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster and Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas.