Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe is a compelling and highly readable history of disasters and their consequences by Niall Ferguson. Though catastrophes are difficult to predict, Ferguson argues that modern societies should respond far better than past civilizations. Yet the mishandling of the recent pandemic revealed deep systemic failures. Beyond the shortcomings of populist leaders, Ferguson identifies long-standing structural pathologies already evident in earlier crises. Drawing on history, economics, and network science, he develops a general theory of disaster, showing how excessive bureaucracy and poor decision-making amplify catastrophe. Provocative and insightful, the book warns that without reform, governments risk irreversible decline.