Magisterial ... Immensely readable Douglas Alexander, Financial Times

Insightful, productively provocative and downright brilliant New York Times

An exciting history of disasters and their consequences, by the most brilliant British historian of his generation (The Times). Disasters are inherently difficult to predict. But when disaster strikes, we should be better prepared than the Romans were when Vesuvius erupted or the medieval Italians when the Black Plague hit. We have science on our side, after all. However, the reactions of many developed countries to a new pathogen from China were seriously flawed. Why? While populist leaders visibly mishandled the pandemic, Niall Ferguson argues that deeper pathologies were at work - pathologies already visible in our reactions to previous disasters. Drawing on many sciences, including economics and network science, Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe offers not only a history but also a general theory of disaster. As Ferguson shows, governments must learn to become less bureaucratic if we want to avoid the impending disaster of irreversible decline.

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

Pages: 512, Dimensions: 12.8x12.8cm