Based on the hit 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 Aztec empires of the Americas; 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 civilizations, and asks what it might have felt like for a person alive at the time as they witnessed the end of their world.

Landmark world history from the creator of the Top Ten podcast Fall of Civilizations

About the Author

Paul Cooper is a podcaster, historian and the author of two acclaimed historical novels, River of Ink and All Our Broken Idols. He gained his PhD from the University of East Anglia, and has taught there and at Warwick. He writes, produces and hosts the Fall of Civilizations podcast, which has charted in the top ten British podcasts, and since its launch in 2018 has garnered over 100 million downloads and over 1 million YouTube subscribers. You can learn more about the author on www.paulmmcooper.com

Reviews

'Paul Cooper's histories of fallen civilizations are brilliantly written: clear, compelling, and ultimately chilling as we are forced to accept the lost genius of ancient cultures and the inevitable ruination of our own. Full of fascinating detail and nuanced findings, you need to read this book' Cal Flyn, journalist and author of Islands of Abandonment

'An instructive, engaging and compelling epic which reveals the fragility of human existence: magnificent triumphs and lamentable tragedies, the civilized and the barbarian. A timely tour de force of historical storytelling' Ron Ramdin, author of The Making of the Black Working Class in Britain

'Cooper draws parallels between fears for our own future and the colossal wrecks of fallen empires so that we may marvel at them and, perhaps, learn from them' Tim Leach, author of The Hollow Throne

PRAISE FOR THE PODCAST

'Excellent' Guardian

'A treasure trove of myths and terror... Atmospheric as hell... Immersive' The Times

'Paul Cooper has a historian's cool for what we know and what we don't... but a novelist's eye for vivid details' Seattle Times

Book Information
ISBN 9780715655009
Author Paul Cooper
Format Hardback
Page Count 544
Imprint Duckworth
Publisher Duckworth Books