Though “Doom” takes off with the pacey prose, grand historical sweep and fine detail for which the author is renowned, it does not live up to its early promise
Its central contention is that “all disasters are at some level man-made political disasters, even if they originate with new pathogens”. A society’s character, in other words—its resilience, fragility and ability to manage the fallout of catastrophe—determines the effect on it of even the most apparently natural disasters, such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and plagues.
But the set of disasters under consideration is key. If it is drawn narrowly enough to include only those that seem natural, such as pandemics, Mr Ferguson’s observation is interesting but not original. Amartya Sen, a Nobel-prizewinning economist, made it in 1981 in “Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation”; his perception that famine is caused not by crop failure but by politics made his name.
disaster. But a book that ranges so widely needs a strong thread to hold it together. Here you may find yourself turning to the long chapter descriptions at the start to see why you are reading about the Battle of the Somme or the decline of the Ming dynasty. Whistle-stop tours of world history succeed if the itinerary plots an arresting case; “Doom” supplies the tour, but the reader is left wondering what the point of it is.
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