This plays right into the hands of China, the up and coming contender to replace the USA. Ferguson presents polls and data from all over that show how others no longer think America is a worthy leader, ally or partner. Not only do Americans not trust their own democratic government, which has been crumbling in terms of effectiveness and service since the 1970s, but now the world is rethinking its evaluation of American leadership and presence. This of course is most evident right now, as the Trump administration bungled the COVID-19 pandemic so badly that the USA leads the world in all the worst categories.

“Approaching disasters within this broader framework makes it clear that democratic institutions by themselves are far from a sufficient safeguard against disasters of all kinds-especially those that are not normally distributed but follow power-law distributions-regardless of whether we insist on classifying them as either natural or man-made.”įerguson examines various plagues through the ages, as knowledge of how they work gradually grew, and how such knowledge was usually ignored or abused by those in power. The conclusion is that government has and continues to fail us: It is an education, a peek behind the scenes, a rollercoaster and an argument rolled into one bubbling and appealing package. The disasters he investigates cover the spectrum from war to pathogens, floods, earthquakes and in the end, planetary invasions. Too often, he finds midlevel managers at fault. In Doom, Niall Ferguson roams the world, history and even science fiction to examine disasters.

“All disasters are at some level man-made political disasters, even if they originate with new pathogens.“ Discuss.

Doom niall ferguson review