Shortlisted for the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize 2025
“A vital and important book.” — David Olusoga
From award-winning historian of race, science, and empire Sadiah Qureshi comes a groundbreaking and deeply moving history of extinction — as a scientific idea, an imperial legacy, and a political choice.
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?
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.
Yet Vanished 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.
Drawing on pioneering research and breathtaking storytelling, Vanished 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.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ROYAL SOCIETY TRIVEDI SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE 2025
A GUARDIAN & TELEGRAPH BEST SCIENCE BOOK 2025
WATERSTONES BEST POPULAR SCIENCE BOOK 2025
'A vital and important book' David Olusoga
From 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
Anyone 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?
Extinction, 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.
Yet
Vanished 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.
Exploring the tangled and unnatural histories of extinction and empire,
Vanished 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.
