Why people recommend it
Plagues upon the Earth by Kyle Harper is a sweeping historical examination of how infectious diseases, pathogens, and environmental shifts have shaped human civilization, politics, and social structures from antiquity to the modern era. On the podcast The Ezra Klein Show, David Wallace-Wells recommended the volume as his third book suggestion during the episode titled MAHA Is a Bad Answer to a Good Question, which aired on August 22, 2025. Wallace-Wells praised the work as a comprehensive history of disease and its profound capacity to direct the course of human history. He emphasized to listeners that the book covers the entirety of human existence, demonstrating how microscopic organisms have repeatedly altered the trajectory of empires, economic systems, and cultural development. Through this recommendation, the podcast highlighted the enduring power of biological forces in determining the fate of human societies and the critical role that epidemiological factors play in framing the broader narrative of global history and political evolution.
Who recommended it
- David Wallace-Wells Recommended
David Wallace-Wells — 1 mention
“And then I also wanted to recommend um Kyle Harper's Plagues Upon the Earth, which is a history of disease and the way that it has shaped history and politics um social life, civilization for, you know, the whole of um human history.”