{"product_id":"vanished-9780141988566","title":"Vanished","description":"\u003cp\u003e • Author(s): Sadiah Qureshi\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher: PRH UK\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher Imprint: Penguin GL\u003cbr\u003e • BISAC: Modern - General\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eShortlisted for the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize 2025\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \"A vital and important book.\" -- \u003ci\u003eDavid Olusoga\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e From award-winning historian of race, science, and empire \u003cb\u003eSadiah Qureshi\u003c\/b\u003e comes a groundbreaking and deeply moving history of extinction -- as a scientific idea, an imperial legacy, and a political choice. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Anyone alive today belongs to a tiny fraction of all who have ever lived: more than 90% of species that once existed are now extinct. How did we come to see ourselves as survivors in a world where species can disappear forever -- or even as agents capable of driving a sixth mass extinction? \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Qureshi reveals that extinction is a surprisingly modern concept -- and not nearly as \"natural\" as we imagine. Until the late eighteenth century, Europeans believed species were perfect and unchanging creations of God. But as revolutions reshaped the world, scientists began to recognize that fossils -- like mammoth bones -- were not relics of still-living creatures, but evidence of species lost forever. Extinction, once a theological impossibility, became an accepted, even inevitable, truth. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Yet \u003ci\u003eVanished\u003c\/i\u003e demonstrates that extinction is more than a scientific discovery -- it is also a political act. European and American colonizers quickly used the idea of \"natural\" extinction to justify violence and genocide, claiming that Indigenous peoples -- from Newfoundland's Beothuk to Aboriginal Australians -- were destined to disappear. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Drawing on pioneering research and breathtaking storytelling, \u003ci\u003eVanished\u003c\/i\u003e explores the intertwined histories of extinction and empire to reveal how the concept has shaped our understanding of life, death, and survival -- and what it means for our planet's future. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PRH UK","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":47273964601495,"sku":"9780141988566","price":650.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/3471\/1191\/files\/9780141988566.webp?v=1773380516","url":"https:\/\/atlanticbooks.com\/products\/vanished-9780141988566","provider":"Atlantic Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}