Fall of Civilizations: Stories of Greatness and Decline

The landmark history book from the creator of the Top Ten podcast Based on the highly acclaimed podcast with over 1 million subscribers, 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.

PRAISE FOR FALL OF CIVILIZATIONS'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 'Excellent' Guardian