Review: Fall of Civilizations: Stories of Greatness and Decline by Paul Cooper

Fall of Civilizations: Stories of Greatness and Decline

by Paul Cooper

Release Date: July 23, 2024

2024 Hanover Square Press

Ebook ARC: 785 Pages

ISBN: 978-1335013415

ASIN: B0CPYPXTYS

Audiobook: B0CSLVQK87

Genre: Non-fiction / World History

Source: Review copy from publisher

4 / 5 Stars

Summary

Based on the podcast with over 100 million downloads, Fall of Civilizations brilliantly explores how a range of ancient societies rose to power and sophistication, and how they tipped over into collapse.

Across the centuries, we journey from the great empires of Mesopotamia to those of Khmer and Vijayanagara in Asia and Songhai in West Africa; from Byzantium to the Maya, Inca and Aztecs of Central America; from Roman Britain to Rapa Nui. With meticulous research, breathtaking insight and dazzling, empathic storytelling, historian and novelist Paul Cooper evokes the majesty and jeopardy of these ancient civilizations, and asks what it might have felt like for a person alive at the time to witness the end of their world.

 

My Thoughts

Fall of Civilizations is an interesting read for history buffs, one that goes into detail but doesn't overwhelm the reader and forces them to look up every other name and place for more information. The writing style is logical, and focuses on societies that rose and for various reasons, fell from power, sometimes with little memory they existed. I have always been fascinated by these societies so when I came across this author's podcast a few years ago, I was instantly drawn to the stories and I was glad to see a book written based on some of his podcasts. Because each podcast episode is lengthy, I knew going into this book the information would not be as in-depth and I was fine with that.

 

This book focuses on several distinct civilizations, from the Sumerian Empire to the Aztec Empire to Easter Island, and each one was interesting in its own way. The cultures range from ancient to more modern, but the author sticks to a similar approach for each civilization, moving from the culture of the people and why and how they settles where they did, how they grew in power including the kings/empires, the agriculture and other important things that made up that culture, the reasons why the culture grew to importance, and the possible reasons for its decline.  The impact of other cultures around these civilizations was never ignored and the author would also include notable achievements by each culture as well, such as the invention of writing, mathematics, agriculture, arts, painting, poetry, etc... Because the author uses many different sources, there are many different interpretations for events and he definitely goes out of his way to explore the different thoughts and ideas that exist with the archaeological world, often leaving it up to the reader to think for themselves. And while the sources were extremely comprehensive, I know there are other thoughts to some of the events that were not mentioned in this book that are worth exploring, but that is why history is so much fun to study.  I did appreciate the focus of the book as it didn't meander all over the place with questionable theories and this and that. I may not necessarily agree with everything in the book, but the reading experience was enjoyable nonetheless. And I have to give a particular shoutout to the Sumerian and Easter Island sections as they were superbly done.

The writing style was engaging, and his use of a variety of sources was fascinating, some of which I intend to read as this book made me excited to explore more within this topic, even if I have a huge grasp already. That is what is great about a book like this: it's meant to teach and educate, yes, but more than that, it's meant to excite the mind into exploring more and this is definitely what it has done for me. Even if you have a lot of knowledge about the rise and fall of civilizations, or you have little knowledge, I think there is something for everyone in this book.