Book & podcast collection

Vanished: An Unnatural History of Extinction

★ Royal Society Science Book Prize ★ Smithsonian Magazine – 10 Best Science Books of the Year

Historian Sadiah Qureshi traces how extinction became a modern scientific concept and a political story about supposedly doomed peoples and species. She connects natural history, empire, race, conservation, and genocide, showing how claims of inevitable disappearance often excused conquest or neglect. Museums, scientists, colonial officials, activists, and communities reveal competing ways of interpreting loss. The book argues that extinction is never only a biological event: decisions about whose survival matters are shaped by power. Qureshi asks how more just histories might support different relationships with threatened human and nonhuman life.

Publisher: Allen Lane
Publication date: 2025-06-05
Format: Hardback
Pages: 496
ISBN: 9780241352106

Subjects

Science / Life Sciences / Evolution Nature / Environmental Conservation & Protection History / Modern / General History / Social History Social Science / Indigenous Studies

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Interview with the Author

6 available interview links

1. HistoryExtra — From dodos to lost tribes: a history of extinctionChecked

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2. The Land & Climate Podcast — What is the history of extinction?Checked

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3. New Books Network — Sadiah Qureshi, VanishedChecked

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4. Late Night Live — Reverse extinction: do we want that?Checked

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More ways to listen

Podcast: All Things History — Vanished: An Unnatural History of Extinction ↗Podcast: Green Dreamer — Healing histories of division, racialization and extinction ↗