Originally published on September 20, 2021 (Episode 224)
Introduction
Historians usually trace gradual change across years, even centuries. But sometimes history doesn’t just bend—it breaks. In moments of radical upheaval, the pace of transformation feels less like a gentle current and more like a plunge over a waterfall in a leaky kayak. How do such disruptions occur? How can a social order that seemed stable collapse within a decade or two? And why do some radical changes to a social order succeed while others falter? These are the questions at the heart of David Potter’s new book Disruption: Why Things Change.
About the Guest
David Potter is Francis W. Kelsey Collegiate Professor of Greek and Roman History and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Greek and Latin at the University of Michigan. He has written widely on prophecy and history, the origins of the Roman Empire, and the role of sport in the Greco-Roman world, among many other topics.
For Further Investigation
David Potter, Disruption: Why Things Change (OUP, 2021)
David Potter, The Origin of Empire: Rome from the Republic to Hadrian
David Potter, Prophets and Emperors: Human and Divine Authority from Augustus to Theodosius
Listen & Discuss
What distinguishes gradual change from true disruption?
Why do some societies adapt to disruption while others collapse?
If this episode helped you think differently about upheaval and transformation, share it with a friend who’s interested in how history explains today’s disruptions.
