'Magisterial... Immensely readable' Douglas Alexander, Financial Times

'Insightful, productively provocative and downright brilliant' New York Times

A compelling history of catastrophes and their consequences, from 'the most brilliant British historian of his generation' (The Times)

Disasters are inherently hard to predict. But when catastrophe strikes, we ought to be better prepared than the Romans were when Vesuvius erupted or medieval Italians when the Black Death struck. We have science on our side, after all. Yet the responses of many developed countries to a new pathogen from China were badly bungled. Why?

While populist rulers certainly performed poorly in the face of the pandemic, Niall Ferguson argues that more profound pathologies were at work - pathologies already visible in our responses to earlier disasters.

Drawing from multiple disciplines, including economics and network science, Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe offers not just a history but a general theory of disaster. As Ferguson shows, governments must learn to become less bureaucratic if we are to avoid the impending doom of irreversible decline.

'Stimulating, thought-provoking... Readers will find much to relish' Martin Bentham, Evening Standard

• We started tracking this book on August 23, 2020.
• This book was £12.99 when we started tracking it.
• The price of this book has changed 23 times in the past 1,638 days.
• The current price of this book is £6.99 last checked 52 minutes ago.
• This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past 90 days is £5.99.
• This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past year is £4.99.
• The lowest price to date was £4.99 last reached on August 24, 2024.
• This book has been £4.99 one time since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was £12.99 last reached on August 23, 2020.
• This book has been £12.99 one time since we started tracking it.

• Politics & Social SciencesDisaster Relief
• Politics & Social SciencesPractical Politics
• Politics & Social SciencesPolitical History & Theory

• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 487 Pages
• File Size: 13,847 KB