Episode · Dwarkesh Podcast · 2025-04-24
Dwarkesh Patel & Kyle Harper: books mentioned on Dwarkesh Podcast
Why Rome actually fell: plagues, slavery, & ice age — Kyle Harper
800 years before the Black Death, the very same bacteria ravaged Rome, killing 60%+ of the population in many areas. Also, back-to-back volcanic eruptions caused a mini Ice Age, leaving Rome devastated by famine and disease.
Dwarkesh Patel discussed The Fate of Rome by Kyle Harper, Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275–425 by Kyle Harper, and Plagues upon the Earth by Kyle Harper. Kyle Harper discussed Against the Grain by James C. Scott.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Fate of Rome
The Fate of Rome by Kyle Harper is a historical study that examines how climate change and three major disease outbreaks impacted the Roman Empire.
Discussed“You have this graph in The Fate of Rome. You show human population over the last few thousand years. I assume that these two downspikes are both the bubonic plague, Yersinia pestis, right?”
Where to get it
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Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275–425
Discussed“Let's turn to another one of your books, the one about slavery in the Roman world. I did not realize before I read that one how much Rome was a slave society.”
Where to get it
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Plagues upon the Earth
Kyle Harper's Plagues upon the Earth is a sweeping historical examination of disease and how pathogens have continuously shaped human history, politics, and civilization.
Discussed“We can get back to your most recent book about human history and plagues. What do you make of the general argument that people have often made that we were living in a sort of Eden before agriculture?”
Where to get it
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Against the Grain
Why people recommend it: Challenging traditional assumptions about the rise of human civilization and the origins of state control, Against the Grain by James C.
Discussed“James Scott has an interesting theory in Against the Grain. I don't know if it originates with him, but he argues that one of the reasons that the early agriculturalists were so successful...”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (7) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“Today, I have the pleasure of chatting with Kyle Harper, who is a professor and provost emeritus at the University of Oklahoma, and the author of some really interesting books: The Fate of Rome, Plagues Upon the Earth, Slavery in the Late Roman World”
“Today, I have the pleasure of chatting with Kyle Harper, who is a professor and provost emeritus at the University of Oklahoma, and the author of some really interesting books: The Fate of Rome, Plagues Upon the Earth, Slavery in the Late Roman World”
“Today, I have the pleasure of chatting with Kyle Harper, who is a professor and provost emeritus at the University of Oklahoma, and the author of some really interesting books: The Fate of Rome, Plagues Upon the Earth, Slavery in the Late Roman World”
“I hope your next book about The Last Animal discusses the potential parallels with factory farming. There's some... there's a pretty gruesome chapter, I'll say that.”
“Just to plug one more time, we've been discussing Plagues Upon the Earth, which is the history of disease going back through the Neolithic to modern times, Fate of Rome which discusses the plagues and history of the Roman Empire considering climate and biology.”
“Just to plug one more time, we've been discussing Plagues Upon the Earth, which is the history of disease going back through the Neolithic to modern times, Fate of Rome which discusses the plagues and history of the Roman Empire considering climate and biology.”
“We also discussed, what was the name of the book on slavery? Slavery in the Late Roman World? Slavery in the Late Roman World.”