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Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe Hardcover – May 6, 2021

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 932 ratings

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

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

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


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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Allen Lane (May 6, 2021)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 496 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0241488443
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0241488447
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.58 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.38 x 1.69 x 9.45 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 932 ratings

About the author

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Niall Ferguson
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Niall Ferguson is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, former Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University and current senior fellow at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University, a visiting professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing, and founder and managing director of advisory firm Greenmantle LLC. The author of 15 books, Ferguson is writing a life of Henry Kissinger, the first volume of which—Kissinger, 1923-1968: The Idealist—was published in 2015 to critical acclaim. The World's Banker: The History of the House of Rothschild won the Wadsworth Prize for Business History. Other titles include Civilization: The West and the Rest, The Great Degeneration: How Institutions Decay and Economies Die and High Financier: The Lives and Time of Siegmund Warburg. Ferguson's six-part PBS television series, "The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World," based on his best-seller, won an International Emmy for best documentary in 2009. Civilization was also made into a documentary series. Ferguson is a recipient of the Benjamin Franklin Award for Public Service as well as other honors. His most recent book is The Square and the Tower: Networks on Power from the Freemasons to Facebook (2018).

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
932 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book well-written, with wisdom that makes it worth reading. They also appreciate the real gems of information and recommend it for planner friends.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

14 customers mention "Content"14 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's content informative, with gems of information. They also appreciate the author's trademark ability to relate good anecdotes and draw apparently disparate connections. Readers also appreciate that the book references works of fiction to further the discussion. They describe the author as a great historian, with a stunning display of intellectual prowess over many fields.

"...Read Ferguson for an informative historical perspective. He has done it before and Doom is an admirable addition to his authoritative treatments." Read more

"...I found much to enjoy in Doom, with Ferguson's trademark ability to relate a good anecdote and draw apparently disparate events together for clear..." Read more

"Nails Ferguson's Doom is a well written and well research history of both man-made and natural disasters...." Read more

"Typically readable and in depth work I've come to appreciate by Ferguson...." Read more

13 customers mention "Readability"13 positive0 negative

Customers find the book worth reading, interesting, and thought-provoking. They also say it's well-informed and provocative.

"Niall Ferguson knows how to tell a story, and has the wisdom to make it worth reading...." Read more

"...However, his arguments are worth reading if you have an Inquisitive Mind - One of my top 10 reads of my life." Read more

"...Ferguson's scholarly mining of the literature is sound, but only for work that has stood the test of time...." Read more

"While this is a very timely and topical book it suffers from the simple problem that Ferguson is writing about one of his major themes - COVID-19..." Read more

4 customers mention "Writing style"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the writing style of the book well written and well researched.

"Nails Ferguson's Doom is a well written and well research history of both man-made and natural disasters...." Read more

"Typically readable and in depth work I've come to appreciate by Ferguson...." Read more

"Written at highest levels and requires command of the English language. Informative and comprehensive. Very worthwhile." Read more

"Amazingly well written and full of information...." Read more

USED book for $25???
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Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2021
Niall Ferguson knows how to tell a story, and has the wisdom to make it worth reading. I was a high school student during the Asian Flu epidemic in 1957 so it is more than just history to me. He rightfully compares and contrasts that experience with the past year, and wisely points out that back then people were less alarmed by disease -- with mumps, chicken pox, and measles a childhood rite of passage. Polio had just been tamed by the Salk vaccine. That generation’s exposure to epidemic risk made it easier for President Eisenhower to stay the course. Read Ferguson for an informative historical perspective. He has done it before and Doom is an admirable addition to his authoritative treatments.
37 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2021
I've enjoyed Niall Ferguson's books for many years. While I don't always agree with his ideas, I like his writing style and his undoubted historical knowledge. I also love his counterfactuals about history as it might have been. Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe carries on many of Ferguson's ideas on networking and human interconnections that he began to broach in The Square and the Tower, especially as they relate to the Covid-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, Ferguson has to deal with the problem all historians writing about their own present face: how to deal with immediacy without the benefit of being able to view from a distance.

I found much to enjoy in Doom, with Ferguson's trademark ability to relate a good anecdote and draw apparently disparate events together for clear analyses. Where I thought the book fell short lies in the political angle: Ferguson is much too forgiving of Donald Trump. An historian of Ferguson's stature should recognize Trump and Trumpism for the dangers they posed and still pose.
3 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2021
DOOM
The Politics of Catastrophe

NIALL FERGUSON

Review by Author Roy Murry

This profound history of every disaster you know or think you know - from wars, volcanoes, famines to plagues. Mr. Ferguson writes the story's factors one would not think existed.

The depth of each disaster's background is disturbing and not in any history books printed about those events I have read. However, I am 73 years old and have read much history.

In Niall Ferguson's written words, "the central point of this book - that all disasters are at some level man-made political disasters, even if they originate with new pathogens." His explanations of those horrendous events in history bring the reader to the present day.

While living in lockdown, he proposes why the Asian Flu 1957-1958 is similar to the COVID 2020 and shows the political and network differences at the beginning of the events. In some of his detail, the reader will agree with, some not.

However, his arguments are worth reading if you have an Inquisitive Mind - One of my top 10 reads of my life.
4 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2023
Excellent work by Ferguson as always. This book can be very depressing and it is but somehow it drags you to the last page.
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2024
This is an interesting book, but it presumes too much. One example will suffice. Ferguson's enthusiasm for Fauci's efforts was certainly accepted wisdom when the book was published, but recent events suggest his faith was misplaced. Ferguson's scholarly mining of the literature is sound, but only for work that has stood the test of time. He seems unable to discern that he was a victim of the massive propaganda campaign that was waged against those who were critical of the experimental mRNA treatment. He quotes the phony studies of HCQ conducted by the CDC that applied massive doses of the repurposed drug to terminal patients as proof that HQC was of no value. This shows a misunderstanding of the proper use of the drug. It interferes with the replication of the virus in the early stages of the disease, and it is not recommended for use after the first four or five days of the infection, when the virus has basically finished its spread within the patient. After this, the problem is to manage the patient's response which should be handled with other therapies. This has been well documented, and I suspect that if Ferguson was to apply his skills to the literature as it exists today, he would come to different conclusions. A bit more skepticism would have served him well. I do not recommend this book. I purchased it after listening to an interview with Jordán Peterson, and I expected more. At best it is a lesson in the need for a more open and honest debate on critical public issues. Which should have been a prominent theme in a book about how to deal with the politics of catastrophe.
One person found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2021
Nails Ferguson's Doom is a well written and well research history of both man-made and natural disasters. It delves into the politics, psychology and somewhat the mathematics of catastrophes.
Must read
Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2021
While this is a very timely and topical book it suffers from the simple problem that Ferguson is writing about one of his major themes - COVID-19 - as it is still unfolding. He makes some excellent points about the failure and confusion of the response in the US being far more widely spread than simply the occupant of the White House, but his arguments about the financial response are largely undermined by subsequent events and the second and third waves of infection.

It is particularly unfortunate, not to say tragic, that his comparison of the impact of COVID-19 being of a similar magnitude as the Asian Flu of 1957-58 seems far less relevant given the huge surge in infections and deaths in India and SE Asia that are happening as I write this review in May 2021.

Ferguson's examination and exploration of the impact of networks on catastrophes in general is enlightening and thought-provoking, and he makes a particularly strong case that the instinctive response of the Chinese authorities to cover up the early infections in December 2020 allowed the pandemic to gain access to the rest of the world at a moment when it might have been contained.

If you enjoy reading history that is provocatively written with well-informed arguments you will find a lot to enjoy in this latest book by one of the leading thinkers of our times.
23 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Richard Parker
5.0 out of 5 stars An encyclopedic reference source.
Reviewed in Canada on February 1, 2023
This work is, in my opinion a very comprehensive review of catastrophes, disasters and natural cataclysmic events. I found it well researched and well written - an excellent reference tool.
One person found this helpful
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Vanessa
4.0 out of 5 stars Excelente compra
Reviewed in Mexico on October 18, 2021
El libro llegó muy rápido, y bien.
Gabriel Stein
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 22, 2022
Another excellent and typical book by a brilliant author. Some of the chapters and comments on Covid now seem somewhat dated, but this was bound to happen. Overall, strongly recommended
One person found this helpful
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ANONYMOUS
5.0 out of 5 stars sad but true
Reviewed in France on January 25, 2022
Read it carefully. It is filled with useless truth.
No way out. If profets couldn’t help, how could I?
Good bye
Tomichan Matheikal
3.0 out of 5 stars Too scholarly
Reviewed in India on September 20, 2021
I found it hard to sustain interest in this book because the style is academic and full of jargon.