{"product_id":"vanished-an-unnatural-history-of-extinction-9780241352106","title":"Vanished: An Unnatural History of Extinction","description":"\u003cb\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE ROYAL SOCIETY TRIVEDI SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE 2025 \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA GUARDIAN \u0026amp; TELEGRAPH BEST SCIENCE BOOK 2025 \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWATERSTONES BEST POPULAR SCIENCE BOOK 2025 \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e'A vital and important book' David Olusoga \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom an award-winning historian of race, science and empire, a path-breaking and poignant history of extinction as a scientific idea, an imperial legacy and a political choice \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnyone alive today is among a tiny fraction of the once living: over 90% of species that ever existed are now extinct. How did we come to think of ourselves as survivors in a world where species can vanish forever, or as capable of pushing our planet to the verge of a sixth mass extinction? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eExtinction, Sadiah Qureshi shows us, is a surprisingly modern concept - and a phenomenon that's not as natural as we might think. In Europe until the late eighteenth century, species were considered perfect and unchanging creations of God. Then in the age of revolutions, scientists gathered enough fossil evidence to determine that mammoth bones, for example, were not just large elephants but a lost species that once roamed the Earth alongside ancient humans. Extinction went from being regarded as theologically dangerous to pervasive, and even inevitable. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eYet \u003ci\u003eVanished\u003c\/i\u003e shows us that extinction is more than a scientific idea; it's a political choice that has led to devasting consequences. Europeans and Americans quickly used the notion that extinction was a natural process to justify persecution and genocide, predicting that nations from Newfoundland's Beothuk to Aboriginal Australians were doomed to die out from imperial expansion. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eExploring the tangled and unnatural histories of extinction and empire, \u003ci\u003eVanished\u003c\/i\u003e weaves together pioneering original research and breath-taking storytelling to show us extinction is both an evolutionary process and a human act: one which illuminates our past, and may alter our future.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSadiah Qureshi\u003c\/b\u003e is a writer and historian of science, race and empire. Currently a Chair of Modern British History at the University of Manchester, she has written for the\u003ci\u003e London Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eTimes Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eNew Statesman\u003c\/i\u003e. She cannot bear the thought of living in a world without trees or tigers.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Allen Lane","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51831609590034,"sku":"9780241352106","price":41.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_73bc1b86-afcd-4d40-99b4-0df34dff6cb5.jpg?v=1767006074","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/vanished-an-unnatural-history-of-extinction-9780241352106","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}