Close to 100 years ago, after his visit to San Francisco, severely devastated by the 1906 earthquake, William James noted that “In California every one, to some degree, was suffering and one's private miseries were merged in the vast general sum of privation and in the all-absorbing practical problem of general recuperation” (James, 1912, p. 225). These insightful words illuminate two paramount characteristics of community-wide tragedies. Most importantly, whether they are caused by the forces of nature, technological mishaps or errors, or result from premeditated acts of violence and terrorism, they are more than individual-level events. They are “a basic disruption of the social context within which individuals and groups function” (Fritz, 1961, p. 651). Even if they strike geographically bounded environments such as tornados coiling one side of a street, floods submerging a neighborhood along the river banks or explosions shattering the heart of a city, their impact “ripples outward” inflicting harm and damages, and over time creating a greater sense of loss to larger and larger numbers of people. Consequently, the coping efforts aimed at recovery from the oppressive forces of these events become a shared responsibility and collective activity. The chapters presented in this volume all underscored this dynamic interplay of individual and community experiences that emerged in the hours, days, weeks and months in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.