Life After People

In a world without humans, water turns from life-giver to destroyer--flooding cities, collapsing dams, and triggering ancient forces long kept at bay.

When humanity disappears, the global retail machine collapses-malls rot, shipping lanes turn explosive, and ghostly grocery stores become battlefields for rodents, predators, and time.

In the absence of humanity, the world's most iconic cities-from New York, to Orlando, to Rio de Janeiro-are reclaimed by nature, as forests rise, animals roam free, and fire and flood undo centuries of construction.

In a world without humans, the deserts we once tamed rise to reclaim our greatest triumphs-from the glittering lights of Las Vegas to the soaring heights of Dubai's Burj Khalifa.

After humanity ceases to exist, the homes we built-from suburban mansions and Miami condos to rural farmhouses-face a relentless siege by fire, flood, wildlife, and time.

When humanity vanishes, the vast and fragile infrastructure hidden underground-from subways and pipelines to one of the biggest coal seams in the United States-begins to unravel.

Humanity's strongest structures were engineered to defy disaster-but in a world without people, even the mightiest begin to crack.

Hidden dangers once held at bay by humans erupt with catastrophic force-from everyday objects ready to explode to chemical plants and locust plagues-as nature and human legacy collide, these ticking time bombs threaten to send the world up in smoke.