Late Victorian Holocausts

Davis on the famines of 1876–79 and 1896–1902 in India, China and Brazil — arguing that El Niño droughts became mass death because of grain exports, railway pricing and colonial free-market doctrine, and that this is where the global income gap opened.

Why it’s on the list: Named in the replies to @SpencrGreenberg asking what non-fiction book taught you the most about how the world really works — a crowd-sourced list Kyle recovered by hand and saved.

Where I saw it: In the replies to @SpencrGreenberg asking “What non-fiction book taught you the most about how the world (or how humanity or society) really works?” (June 5, 2025). Kyle recovered the reply list by hand and saved it to his “Books To Read” Apple Note; the full transcribed list lives on A question for you — What non-fiction… (tweet).

Connections

• A question for you — What non-fiction… (tweet) — the thread this came out of; the full recovered list lives there.
• Economic History — the frame the argument works in.
• People Over Politics — the portfolio idea this sits closest to.