A radical retelling of human history through collapse - from the dawn of our species to the urgent existential threats of the twenty-first century and beyond.'Absolutely essential reading for understanding why past civilisations collapsed, and how to protect our own from the same fate' LEWIS DARTNELL'A brilliant, utterly convincing account of the evolution of human society' HENRY MARSHFor the first 200,000 years of human history, hunter-gathering Homo sapiens lived in fluid, egalitarian civilizations that thwarted any individual or group from ruling permanently.
Then, around 12,000 years ago, that began to change.As we reluctantly congregated in the first farms and cities, people began to rely on novel lootable resources like grain and fish for their daily sustenance.
And when more powerful weapons became available, small groups began to seize control of these valuable commodities.
This inequality in resources soon tipped over into inequality in power, and we started to adopt more primal, hierarchical forms of organization.
Power was concentrated in masters, kings, pharaohs and emperors (and ideologies were born to justify their rule).
Goliath-like states and empires - with vast bureaucracies and militaries - carved up and dominated the globe.What brought them down? Whether in the early cities of Cahokia in North America or Tiwanaku in South America, or the sprawling empires of Egypt, Rome and China, it was increasing inequality and concentrations of power that hollowed these Goliaths out before an external shock brought them crashing down.
These collapses were written up as apocalyptic, but in truth they were usually a blessing for most of the population.
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