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| the rise and fall of civilizations: The Rise and Fall of Civilizations Nicholas Hagger, 2008 Nicholas Hagger presents an examination of the patterns of civilizations, providing a unique interpretation into their origin, rise and collapse, and how one civilization leads into the next. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: Empires of Food Andrew Rimas, Evan Fraser, 2010-06-15 We are what we eat: this aphorism contains a profound truth about civilization, one that has played out on the world historical stage over many millennia of human endeavor. Using the colorful diaries of a sixteenth-century merchant as a narrative guide, Empires of Food vividly chronicles the fate of people and societies for the past twelve thousand years through the foods they grew, hunted, traded, and ate—and gives us fascinating, and devastating, insights into what to expect in years to come. In energetic prose, agricultural expert Evan D. G. Fraser and journalist Andrew Rimas tell gripping stories that capture the flavor of places as disparate as ancient Mesopotamia and imperial Britain, taking us from the first city in the once-thriving Fertile Crescent to today’s overworked breadbaskets and rice bowls in the United States and China, showing just what food has meant to humanity. Cities, culture, art, government, and religion are founded on the creation and exchange of food surpluses, complex societies built by shipping corn and wheat and rice up rivers and into the stewpots of history’s generations. But eventually, inevitably, the crops fail, the fields erode, or the temperature drops, and the center of power shifts. Cultures descend into dark ages of poverty, famine, and war. It happened at the end of the Roman Empire, when slave plantations overworked Europe’s and Egypt’s soil and drained its vigor. It happened to the Mayans, who abandoned their great cities during centuries of drought. It happened in the fourteenth century, when medieval societies crashed in famine and plague, and again in the nineteenth century, when catastrophic colonial schemes plunged half the world into a poverty from which it has never recovered. And today, even though we live in an age of astounding agricultural productivity and genetically modified crops, our food supplies are once again in peril. Empires of Food brilliantly recounts the history of cyclic consumption, but it is also the story of the future; of, for example, how a shrimp boat hauling up an empty net in the Mekong Delta could spark a riot in the Caribbean. It tells what happens when a culture or nation runs out of food—and shows us the face of the world turned hungry. The authors argue that neither local food movements nor free market economists will stave off the next crash, and they propose their own solutions. A fascinating, fresh history told through the prism of the dining table, Empires of Food offers a grand scope and a provocative analysis of the world today, indispensable in this time of global warming and food crises. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: The Fate of Empires and Search for Survival Sir John Bagot Glubb, 1978-01-01 |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: 1177 B.C. Eric H. Cline, 2014-03-23 A bold reassessment of what caused the Late Bronze Age collapse In 1177 B.C., marauding groups known only as the Sea Peoples invaded Egypt. The pharaoh's army and navy managed to defeat them, but the victory so weakened Egypt that it soon slid into decline, as did most of the surrounding civilizations. After centuries of brilliance, the civilized world of the Bronze Age came to an abrupt and cataclysmic end. Kingdoms fell like dominoes over the course of just a few decades. No more Minoans or Mycenaeans. No more Trojans, Hittites, or Babylonians. The thriving economy and cultures of the late second millennium B.C., which had stretched from Greece to Egypt and Mesopotamia, suddenly ceased to exist, along with writing systems, technology, and monumental architecture. But the Sea Peoples alone could not have caused such widespread breakdown. How did it happen? In this major new account of the causes of this First Dark Ages, Eric Cline tells the gripping story of how the end was brought about by multiple interconnected failures, ranging from invasion and revolt to earthquakes, drought, and the cutting of international trade routes. Bringing to life the vibrant multicultural world of these great civilizations, he draws a sweeping panorama of the empires and globalized peoples of the Late Bronze Age and shows that it was their very interdependence that hastened their dramatic collapse and ushered in a dark age that lasted centuries. A compelling combination of narrative and the latest scholarship, 1177 B.C. sheds new light on the complex ties that gave rise to, and ultimately destroyed, the flourishing civilizations of the Late Bronze Age—and that set the stage for the emergence of classical Greece. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: The Decline of the West Oswald Spengler, Arthur Helps, Charles Francis Atkinson, 1991 Spengler's work describes how we have entered into a centuries-long world-historical phase comparable to late antiquity, and his controversial ideas spark debate over the meaning of historiography. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: Collapse Jared Diamond, 2011-01-04 In Jared Diamond’s follow-up to the Pulitzer-Prize winning Guns, Germs and Steel, the author explores how climate change, the population explosion and political discord create the conditions for the collapse of civilization. Diamond is also the author of Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis Environmental damage, climate change, globalization, rapid population growth, and unwise political choices were all factors in the demise of societies around the world, but some found solutions and persisted. As in Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond traces the fundamental pattern of catastrophe, and weaves an all-encompassing global thesis through a series of fascinating historical-cultural narratives. Collapse moves from the Polynesian cultures on Easter Island to the flourishing American civilizations of the Anasazi and the Maya and finally to the doomed Viking colony on Greenland. Similar problems face us today and have already brought disaster to Rwanda and Haiti, even as China and Australia are trying to cope in innovative ways. Despite our own society’s apparently inexhaustible wealth and unrivaled political power, ominous warning signs have begun to emerge even in ecologically robust areas like Montana. Brilliant, illuminating, and immensely absorbing, Collapse is destined to take its place as one of the essential books of our time, raising the urgent question: How can our world best avoid committing ecological suicide? |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: The Collapse of Complex Societies Joseph Tainter, 1988 Dr Tainter describes nearly two dozen cases of collapse and reviews more than 2000 years of explanations. He then develops a new and far-reaching theory. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: The Great Warming Brian Fagan, 2008-03-04 A history of the planet's last global warming phase, which took place between the tenth and fifteenth centuries, traces how climate changes affected trading routes and population growth, bringing abundance to some regions and famines to others. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: Upheaval Jared Diamond, 2019-05-07 A riveting and illuminating Bill Gates Summer Reading pick about how and why some nations recover from trauma and others don't (Yuval Noah Harari), by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the landmark bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel. In his international bestsellers Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse, Jared Diamond transformed our understanding of what makes civilizations rise and fall. Now, in his third book in this monumental trilogy, he reveals how successful nations recover from crises while adopting selective changes -- a coping mechanism more commonly associated with individuals recovering from personal crises. Diamond compares how six countries have survived recent upheavals -- ranging from the forced opening of Japan by U.S. Commodore Perry's fleet, to the Soviet Union's attack on Finland, to a murderous coup or countercoup in Chile and Indonesia, to the transformations of Germany and Austria after World War Two. Because Diamond has lived and spoken the language in five of these six countries, he can present gut-wrenching histories experienced firsthand. These nations coped, to varying degrees, through mechanisms such as acknowledgment of responsibility, painfully honest self-appraisal, and learning from models of other nations. Looking to the future, Diamond examines whether the United States, Japan, and the whole world are successfully coping with the grave crises they currently face. Can we learn from lessons of the past? Adding a psychological dimension to the in-depth history, geography, biology, and anthropology that mark all of Diamond's books, Upheaval reveals factors influencing how both whole nations and individual people can respond to big challenges. The result is a book epic in scope, but also his most personal yet. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: Yiddish Civilisation Paul Kriwaczek, 2007-12-18 Paul Kriwaczek begins this illuminating and immensely pleasurable chronicle of Yiddish civilization during the Roman empire, when Jewish culture first spread to Europe. We see the burgeoning exile population disperse, as its notable diplomats, artists and thinkers make their mark in far-flung cities and found a self-governing Yiddish world. By its late-medieval heyday, this economically successful, intellectually adventurous, and self-aware society stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Kriwaczek traces, too, the slow decline of Yiddish culture in Europe and Russia, and highlights fresh offshoots in the New World.Combining family anecdote, travelogue, original research, and a keen understanding of Yiddish art and literature, Kriwaczek gives us an exceptional portrait of a culture which, though nearly extinguished, has an influential radiance still. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: Ancient Maya Arthur Demarest, 2004-12-09 In this new archaeological study, Arthur Demarest brings the lost pre-Columbian civilization of the Maya to life. In applying a holistic perspective to the most recent evidence from archaeology, paleoecology, and epigraphy, this theoretical interpretation emphasises both the brilliant rain forest adaptations of the ancient Maya and the Native American spirituality that permeated all aspects of their daily life. Demarest draws on his own discoveries and the findings of colleagues to reconstruct the complex lifeways and volatile political history of the Classic Maya states of the first to eighth centuries. He provides a new explanation of the long-standing mystery of the ninth-century abandonment of most of the great rain forest cities. Finally, he draws lessons from the history of the Classic Maya cities for contemporary society and for the ongoing struggles and resurgence of the modern Maya peoples, who are now re-emerging from six centuries of oppression. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: The Decline of Ancient Indian Civilization Kerry Hinton, 2016-07-15 How do civilizations rise and, ultimately, fall? U.S. students can have a difficult time understanding that empires come and go throughout the course of history. This volume explains how a once-flourishing civilization ran into decline, once foreign invaders took over the weakened government and spread their influence. Students will learn how India evolved into the country it is today. With engaging text, rich and colorful illustrations, and an enhanced e-book option, this title is a valuable resource for students researching reports. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: Dirt David R. Montgomery, 2008-10-02 Dirt, soil, call it what you want—it's everywhere we go. It is the root of our existence, supporting our feet, our farms, our cities. This fascinating yet disquieting book finds, however, that we are running out of dirt, and it's no laughing matter. An engaging natural and cultural history of soil that sweeps from ancient civilizations to modern times, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations explores the compelling idea that we are—and have long been—using up Earth's soil. Once bare of protective vegetation and exposed to wind and rain, cultivated soils erode bit by bit, slowly enough to be ignored in a single lifetime but fast enough over centuries to limit the lifespan of civilizations. A rich mix of history, archaeology and geology, Dirt traces the role of soil use and abuse in the history of Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, China, European colonialism, Central America, and the American push westward. We see how soil has shaped us and we have shaped soil—as society after society has risen, prospered, and plowed through a natural endowment of fertile dirt. David R. Montgomery sees in the recent rise of organic and no-till farming the hope for a new agricultural revolution that might help us avoid the fate of previous civilizations. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: Carthage Must Be Destroyed Richard Miles, 2012-06-26 The first full-scale history of Hannibal's Carthage in decades and a convincing and enthralling narrative. (The Economist ) Drawing on a wealth of new research, archaeologist, historian, and master storyteller Richard Miles resurrects the civilization that ancient Rome struggled so mightily to expunge. This monumental work charts the entirety of Carthage's history, from its origins among the Phoenician settlements of Lebanon to its apotheosis as a Mediterranean empire whose epic land-and-sea clash with Rome made a legend of Hannibal and shaped the course of Western history. Carthage Must Be Destroyed reintroduces readers to the ancient glory of a lost people and their generations-long struggle against an implacable enemy. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt Toby Wilkinson, 2013-01-08 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Magisterial . . . [A] rich portrait of ancient Egypt’s complex evolution over the course of three millenniums.”—Los Angeles Times NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • Publishers Weekly In this landmark volume, one of the world’s most renowned Egyptologists tells the epic story of this great civilization, from its birth as the first nation-state to its absorption into the Roman Empire. Drawing upon forty years of archaeological research, award-winning scholar Toby Wilkinson takes us inside a tribal society with a pre-monetary economy and decadent, divine kings who ruled with all-too-recognizable human emotions. Here are the legendary leaders: Akhenaten, the “heretic king,” who with his wife Nefertiti brought about a revolution with a bold new religion; Tutankhamun, whose dazzling tomb would remain hidden for three millennia; and eleven pharaohs called Ramesses, the last of whom presided over the militarism, lawlessness, and corruption that caused a political and societal decline. Filled with new information and unique interpretations, The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt is a riveting and revelatory work of wild drama, bold spectacle, unforgettable characters, and sweeping history. “With a literary flair and a sense for a story well told, Mr. Wilkinson offers a highly readable, factually up-to-date account.”—The Wall Street Journal “[Wilkinson] writes with considerable verve. . . . [He] is nimble at conveying the sumptuous pageantry and cultural sophistication of pharaonic Egypt.”—The New York Times |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age Annalee Newitz, 2021-02-02 Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR and Science Friday A quest to explore some of the most spectacular ancient cities in human history—and figure out why people abandoned them. In Four Lost Cities, acclaimed science journalist Annalee Newitz takes readers on an entertaining and mind-bending adventure into the deep history of urban life. Investigating across the centuries and around the world, Newitz explores the rise and fall of four ancient cities, each the center of a sophisticated civilization: the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in Central Turkey, the Roman vacation town of Pompeii on Italy’s southern coast, the medieval megacity of Angkor in Cambodia, and the indigenous metropolis Cahokia, which stood beside the Mississippi River where East St. Louis is today. Newitz travels to all four sites and investigates the cutting-edge research in archaeology, revealing the mix of environmental changes and political turmoil that doomed these ancient settlements. Tracing the early development of urban planning, Newitz also introduces us to the often anonymous workers—slaves, women, immigrants, and manual laborers—who built these cities and created monuments that lasted millennia. Four Lost Cities is a journey into the forgotten past, but, foreseeing a future in which the majority of people on Earth will be living in cities, it may also reveal something of our own fate. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: The Decline of Ancient Mesopotamian Civilization Xina M. Uhl, 2016-07-15 It may be hard to wrap one’s head around how such a thriving people as the ancient Mesopotamians could fall. This volume offers readers a detailed overview of how this complex and intriguing people declined from their previous prosperity. Readers will journey through the ebb and flow of the civilization, taking in information about the various factors that ultimately worked against them. The text explains the natural causes, such as drought, the structural issues, and invasions that led to the downfall of a civilization that nevertheless offers a lasting legacy. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: Family and Civilization Carle C. Zimmerman, 2014-04-22 Family and Civilization is the magnum opus of Carle Zimmerman, a distinguished sociologist who taught for many years at Harvard University. In this unjustly forgotten work Zimmerman demonstrates the close and causal connections between the rise and fall of different types of families and the rise and fall of civilizations, particularly ancient Greece and Rome, medieval and modern Europe, and the United States. Zimmerman traces the evolution of family structure from tribes and clans to extended and large nuclear families to the small nuclear families and broken families of today. And he shows the consequences of each structure for the bearing and rearing of children; for religion, law, and everyday life; and for the fate of civilization itself. Originally published in 1947, this compelling analysis predicted many of today’s cultural and social controversies and trends, including youth violence and depression, abortion and homosexuality, the demographic collapse of Europe and of the West more generally, and the displacement of peoples. This new edition, part of ISI Books’ Background series, has been edited and abridged by cultural commentator James Kurth of Swarthmore College and includes essays on the text by Kurth, Allan Carlson, and Bryce Christensen. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: The Evolution of Civilizations Carroll Quigley, 1979 Carroll Quigley was a legendary teacher at the Georgetown School of Foreign Service. His course on the history of civilization was extraordinary in its scope and in its impact on students. Like the course, The Evolution of Civilizations is a comprehensive and perceptive look at the factors behind the rise and fall of civilizations. Quigley examines the application of scientific method to the social sciences, then establishes his historical hypotheses. He poses a division of culture into six levels from the abstract to the more concrete. He then tests those hypotheses by a detailed analysis of five major civilizations: the Mesopotamian, the Canaanite, the Minoan, the classical, and the Western. Quigley defines a civilization as a producing society with an instrument of expansion. A civilization's decline is not inevitable but occurs when its instrument of expansion is transformed into an institution--that is, when social arrangements that meet real social needs are transformed into social institutions serving their own purposes regardless of real social needs. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: The Law of Civilization and Decay An Essay on History Brooks Adams, 2025-01-13 The Law of Civilization and Decay: An Essay on History, a thought-provoking work by Brooks Adams, presents a compelling analysis of the cycles of civilization throughout history. In this influential essay, Adams examines the underlying forces that drive the rise and fall of societies, arguing that economic, environmental, and social factors interplay to shape the trajectory of civilizations. His insightful perspective encourages readers to reflect on the patterns of human behavior and the lessons that history offers. Through a meticulous examination of historical events and trends, Adams articulates his theory of civilization as a dynamic process, marked by periods of growth followed by inevitable decline. He delves into the impact of technology, culture, and political structures on societal development, exploring how these elements contribute to the vitality or decay of civilizations. Adams' keen observations challenge readers to consider the consequences of their actions and the importance of adaptability in the face of change. The Law of Civilization and Decay is celebrated for its analytical depth and the clarity with which Adams presents his arguments. His synthesis of history, sociology, and economics provides a holistic understanding of civilization, making this work a significant contribution to the field of historical analysis. The essay invites readers to engage with the cyclical nature of history and the factors that influence societal stability. Readers are drawn to The Law of Civilization and Decay for its insightful critique of human civilization and its timeless relevance. This book is essential for anyone interested in history, sociology, and the dynamics of societal evolution. Owning a copy of The Law of Civilization and Decay is an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the forces that shape our world, making it a valuable addition to any intellectual library. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: The Decline and Fall of Civilisations Kerry Bolton, 2017-09-14 Dr. Kerry Bolton surveys the major civilisations of the past. The features that are most celebrated today as the epitome of 'progress' - decadence, self-indulgence, materialism - that make us uniquely 'enlightened', have all been recorded throughout history as the symptoms of a terminally ill civilisation. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: How The Irish Saved Civilization Thomas Cahill, 2011-09-01 'Shamelessly engaging, effortlessly scholarly, utterly refreshing' Thomas Keneally, author of Schindler's Ark 'A small treasure' New York Times 'This sweepingly confident overview is more entertainingly told than any previous account' Sunday Telegraph Ireland played the central role in maintaining European culture when the dark ages settled on Europe in the fifth century: as Rome was sacked by Visigoths and its empire collapsed, Ireland became 'the isle of saints and scholars' that enabled the classical and religious heritage to be saved. In his compelling and entertaining narrative, Thomas Cahill tells the story of how Irish monks and scrines copied the mauscripts of both pagan and Christian writers, including Homer and Aristotle, while libraries on the continent were lost forever. Bringing the past and its characters to life, Cahill captures the sensibility of the unsung Irish who relaunched civilisation. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume 8 Edward Gibbon, 2015-12-05 This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: Doom Niall Ferguson, 2021-05-04 All disasters are in some sense man-made. Setting the annus horribilis of 2020 in historical perspective, Niall Ferguson explains why we are getting worse, not better, at handling disasters. Disasters are inherently hard to predict. Pandemics, like earthquakes, wildfires, financial crises. and wars, are not normally distributed; there is no cycle of history to help us anticipate the next catastrophe. But when disaster strikes, we ought to be better prepared than the Romans were when Vesuvius erupted, or medieval Italians when the Black Death struck. We have science on our side, after all. Yet in 2020 the responses of many developed countries, including the United States, to a new virus from China were badly bungled. Why? Why did only a few Asian countries learn the right lessons from SARS and MERS? While populist leaders certainly performed poorly in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, Niall Ferguson argues that more profound pathologies were at work--pathologies already visible in our responses to earlier disasters. In books going back nearly twenty years, including Colossus, The Great Degeneration, and The Square and the Tower, Ferguson has studied the foibles of modern America, from imperial hubris to bureaucratic sclerosis and online fragmentation. Drawing from multiple disciplines, including economics, cliodynamics, and network science, Doom offers not just a history but a general theory of disasters, showing why our ever more bureaucratic and complex systems are getting worse at handling them. Doom is the lesson of history that this country--indeed the West as a whole--urgently needs to learn, if we want to handle the next crisis better, and to avoid the ultimate doom of irreversible decline. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: The Collapse of Western Civilization Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. Conway, 2014-07-01 The year is 2393, and the world is almost unrecognizable. Clear warnings of climate catastrophe went ignored for decades, leading to soaring temperatures, rising sea levels, widespread drought and—finally—the disaster now known as the Great Collapse of 2093, when the disintegration of the West Antarctica Ice Sheet led to mass migration and a complete reshuffling of the global order. Writing from the Second People's Republic of China on the 300th anniversary of the Great Collapse, a senior scholar presents a gripping and deeply disturbing account of how the children of the Enlightenment—the political and economic elites of the so-called advanced industrial societies—failed to act, and so brought about the collapse of Western civilization. In this haunting, provocative work of science-based fiction, Naomi Oreskes and Eric M. Conway imagine a world devastated by climate change. Dramatizing the science in ways traditional nonfiction cannot, the book reasserts the importance of scientists and the work they do and reveals the self-serving interests of the so called carbon combustion complex that have turned the practice of science into political fodder. Based on sound scholarship and yet unafraid to speak boldly, this book provides a welcome moment of clarity amid the cacophony of climate change literature. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: The Dawn of Everything David Graeber, David Wengrow, 2021-11-09 INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A dramatically new understanding of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution—from the development of agriculture and cities to the origins of the state, democracy, and inequality—and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation. For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike—either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told, could be achieved only by sacrificing those original freedoms or, alternatively, by taming our baser instincts. David Graeber and David Wengrow show how such theories first emerged in the eighteenth century as a conservative reaction to powerful critiques of European society posed by Indigenous observers and intellectuals. Revisiting this encounter has startling implications for how we make sense of human history today, including the origins of farming, property, cities, democracy, slavery, and civilization itself. Drawing on pathbreaking research in archaeology and anthropology, the authors show how history becomes a far more interesting place once we learn to throw off our conceptual shackles and perceive what’s really there. If humans did not spend 95 percent of their evolutionary past in tiny bands of hunter-gatherers, what were they doing all that time? If agriculture, and cities, did not mean a plunge into hierarchy and domination, then what kinds of social and economic organization did they lead to? The answers are often unexpected, and suggest that the course of human history may be less set in stone, and more full of playful, hopeful possibilities, than we tend to assume. The Dawn of Everything fundamentally transforms our understanding of the human past and offers a path toward imagining new forms of freedom, new ways of organizing society. This is a monumental book of formidable intellectual range, animated by curiosity, moral vision, and a faith in the power of direct action. Includes Black-and-White Illustrations |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: After Collapse Glenn M. Schwartz, John J. Nichols, 2010-08-15 From the Euphrates Valley to the southern Peruvian Andes, early complex societies have risen and fallen, but in some cases they have also been reborn. Prior archaeological investigation of these societies has focused primarily on emergence and collapse. This is the first book-length work to examine the question of how and why early complex urban societies have reappeared after periods of decentralization and collapse. Ranging widely across the Near East, the Aegean, East Asia, Mesoamerica, and the Andes, these cross-cultural studies expand our understanding of social evolution by examining how societies were transformed during the period of radical change now termed “collapse.” They seek to discover how societal complexity reemerged, how second-generation states formed, and how these re-emergent states resembled or differed from the complex societies that preceded them. The contributors draw on material culture as well as textual and ethnohistoric data to consider such factors as preexistent institutions, structures, and ideologies that are influential in regeneration; economic and political resilience; the role of social mobility, marginal groups, and peripheries; and ethnic change. In addition to presenting a number of theoretical viewpoints, the contributors also propose reasons why regeneration sometimes does not occur after collapse. A concluding contribution by Norman Yoffee provides a critical exegesis of “collapse” and highlights important patterns found in the case histories related to peripheral regions and secondary elites, and to the ideology of statecraft. After Collapse blazes new research trails in both archaeology and the study of social change, demonstrating that the archaeological record often offers more clues to the “dark ages” that precede regeneration than do text-based studies. It opens up a new window on the past by shifting the focus away from the rise and fall of ancient civilizations to their often more telling fall and rise. CONTRIBUTORS Bennet Bronson Arlen F. Chase Diane Z. Chase Christina A. Conlee Lisa Cooper Timothy S. Hare Alan L. Kolata Marilyn A. Masson Gordon F. McEwan Ellen Morris Ian Morris Carlos Peraza Lope Kenny Sims Miriam T. Stark Jill A. Weber Norman Yoffee |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: All Societies Die Samuel Cohn, 2021-04-15 In All Societies Die, Samuel Cohn asks us to prepare for the inevitable. Our society is going to die. What are you going to do about it? But he also wants us to know that there's still reason for hope. In an immersive and mesmerizing discussion Cohn considers what makes societies (throughout history) collapse. All Societies Die points us to the historical examples of the Byzantine empire, the collapse of Somalia, the rise of Middle Eastern terrorism, the rise of drug cartels in Latin America and the French Revolution to explain how societal decline has common features and themes. Cohn takes us on an easily digestible journey through history. While he unveils the past, his message to us about the present is searing. Through his assessment of past—and current—societies, Cohn offers us a new way of looking at societal growth and decline. With a broad panorama of bloody stories, unexpected historical riches, crime waves, corruption, and disasters, he shows us that although our society will, inevitably, die at some point, there's still a lot we can do to make it better and live a little longer. His quirky and inventive approach to an end-of-the-world scenario should be a warning. We're not there yet. Cohn concludes with a strategy of preserving and rebuilding so that we don't have to give a eulogy anytime soon. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: Atlas of Empires Peter Davidson, 2018-02-06 Atlas of Empires tells the story of how and why the great empires of history came into being, operated, and ultimately declined, and it discusses the future of the empire in today's globalized world. This book features 60 beautiful and detailed maps of the empires' territories at different stages of their existence, and it organizes them thematically to reflect the different driving forces behind empires throughout history (such as faith, nomadic culture, nationhood, and capitalism). Each section discusses the rise and fall of the empires that existed in a region: *Government and society *Wealth and technology *War and military force *Religious beliefs *And more! From the earliest empires of the Sumerians and the Pharaohs to the modern empires of the USSR and the European Union, this is a story that reveals how empires are created and organized, how later empires resolve the problems of governance faced by earlier empires, and how the political and cultural legacies of ancient empires are still felt today. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: Rise and Fall Paul Strathern, 2019-08-29 Rise and Fall opens with the Akkadian Empire, which ruled over a vast expanse of the region of ancient Mesopotamia, then turns to the immense Roman Empire, where we trace back our western and eastern roots. Next Strathern describes how a great deal of western classical culture was developed in the Abbasid and Umayyid Caliphates. Then, while Europe was beginning to emerge from a period of cultural stagnation, it almost fell to a whirlwind invasion from the East, at which point we meet the Emperors of the Mongol Empire . . . Combining breathtaking scope with masterful concision, Paul Strathern traces connections across four millennia and sheds new light on these major civilizations - from the Mongol Empire and the Yuan Dynasty to the Aztec and Ottoman, through to the most recent and biggest Empires: the British, Russo-Soviet and American. Charting 5,000 years of global history in ten succinct chapters, Rise and Fall makes comprehensive and inspiring reading to anyone fascinated by the history of the world. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: Western Self-Contempt Benedict Beckeld, 2022-05-15 Western Self-Contempt travels through civilizations since antiquity, examining major political events and the literature of ancient Greece, Rome, France, Britain, and the United States, to study evidence of cultural self-hatred and its cyclical recurrence. Benedict Beckeld explores oikophobia, described by its coiner Sir Roger Scruton as the felt need to denigrate the customs, culture and institutions that are identifiably 'ours,' in its political and philosophical applications. Beckeld analyzes the theories behind oikophobia along with their historical sources, revealing why oikophobia is best described as a cultural malaise that befalls civilizations during their declining days. Beckeld gives a framework for why today's society is so fragmented and self-critical. He demonstrates that oikophobia is the antithesis of xenophobia. By this definition, the riots and civil unrest in the summer of 2020 were an expression of oikophobia. Excessive political correctness that attacks tradition and history is an expression of oikophobia. Beckeld argues that if we are to understand these behaviors and attitudes, we must understand oikophobia as a sociohistorical phenomenon. Western Self-Contempt is a systematic analysis of oikophobia, combining political philosophy and history to examine how Western civilizations and cultures evolve from naïve and self-promoting beginnings to states of self-loathing and decline. Concluding with a philosophical portrait of an increasingly interconnected Western civilization, Beckeld reveals how past events and ideologies, both in the US and in Europe, have led to a modern culture of self-questioning and self-rejection. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: Rise and Decline of Civilizations Salomon Wald, 2014 Rise and Decline of Civilizations: Lessons for the Jewish People is a thought experiment in which the author examines the work of 23 historians of the last 2,400 years, from Thucydides to Jared Diamond, who describe the rise and decline of nations and civilizations. None of these is a historian of Judaism. The key question of the book is whether the reasons that explain the rise, decline, and fall of other civilizations could apply to the Jews as well. The answer of the author is a qualified yes. From the work of these historians he extracts 12 drivers, or factors that explain rise and decline, from religion to natural catastrophes. Reviewing the Jewish history of more than 3,000 years against the background of these drivers opens fascinating new vistas for the general reader, and may be particularly useful to historians and politicians. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: Understanding Collapse Guy D. Middleton, 2017-06-26 In this lively survey, Guy D. Middleton critically examines our ideas about collapse - how we explain it and how we have constructed potentially misleading myths around collapses - showing how and why collapse of societies was a much more complex phenomenon than is often admitted. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: Biohistory Jim Penman, 2015 Biohistory is a revolutionary new theory that explores the biological and behavioural underpinnings of social change, including the rise and fall of civilisations. Informed by significant research into the physiological basis of behaviour conducted by author Dr Jim Penman and a team of scientists at RMIT University and the Florey Institute in Melbourne, Australia, Biohistory examines how a complex interplay between culture and biology has shaped civilisations from the Roman Empire to the modern West. Penman proposes that historical changes are driven by changes in the prevailing temperament of populations, based on physiological mechanisms that adapt animal behaviour to changing food conditions. It details the history of human society by mapping the effects of these epigenetic changes on cultures, and on historical tipping points including wars and revolutions. It shows how laboratory studies can be used to explain broad social and economic changes, including the fortunes of entire civilizations. The authors shocking conclusion is that the West is in terminal and inevitable decline, and that its only hope may lie with the biological sciences. Drawing on the disciplines of history, biology, anthropology and economics, Biohistory is the first theory of society that can be tested with some rigour in the laboratory. It explains how environment, cultural values and childrearing patterns determine whether societies prosper or collapse, and how social change can be both predictedand potentially modifiedthrough biochemistry. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece Josiah Ober, 2015 Drawing on newly available information and employing innovative approaches to evidence, a gripping narrative, filled with uncanny modern parallels, offers a major new history of classical Greece and an unprecedented account of its rise and fall. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order Samuel P. Huntington, 2016-07-28 Samuel Huntington explains how clashes between civilizations are the greatest threat to world peace but also how an international order based on civilizations is the best safeguard against war. Events since the publication of the book have proved the wisdom of that analysis. The 9/11 attacks and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have demonstrated the threat of civilizations but have also shown how vital international cross-civilization cooperation is to restoring peace. As ideological distinctions among nations have been replaced by cultural differences, world politics has been reconfigured. Across the globe, new conflicts-and new cooperation-have replaced the old order of the Cold War era. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: The Fall of Rome:And the End of Civilization Bryan Ward-Perkins, 2006-07-13 Why did Rome fall?Vicious barbarian invasions during the fifth century resulted in the cataclysmic end of the world's most powerful civilization, and a 'dark age' for its conquered peoples. Or did it? The dominant view of this period today is that the 'fall of Rome' was a largely peaceful transition to Germanic rule, and the start of a positive cultural transformation.Bryan Ward-Perkins encourages every reader to think again by reclaiming the drama and violence of the last days of the Roman world, and reminding us of the very real horrors of barbarian occupation. Attacking new sources with relish and making use of a range of contemporary archaeological evidence, he looks at both the wider explanations for the disintegration of the Roman world and also the consequences for the lives of everyday Romans, in a world of economic collapse, marauding barbarians,and the rise of a new religious orthodoxy. He also looks at how and why successive generations have understood this period differently, and why the story is still so significant today. |
| the rise and fall of civilizations: How Geography Shaped the Rise and Fall of Civilizations Ahmed Musa, 2025-01-02 Geography has had a profound impact on the development of human civilizations. This book explores how the natural environment—rivers, mountains, coastlines, and climate—has influenced the rise, expansion, and eventual decline of some of the world’s most powerful civilizations. From the fertile crescent to the Andes, learn how geography dictated the resources available, the movement of people, and the creation of infrastructure. This book offers a compelling examination of the role geography has played in shaping human history and the destiny of empires. |
我在3dm下了个游戏 下完是一堆压缩包，怎么样才能合成游戏 我 …
Sep 23, 2020 · 知乎，中文互联网高质量的问答社区和创作者聚集的原创内容平台，于 2011 年 1 月正式上线，以「让人们更好的分享知识、经验和见解，找到自己的解答」为品牌使命。知乎凭借认真、专 …
rise的反义词是set还是fall？ - 知乎
rise的反义词是set还是fall？ - 知乎
C盘APPData目录如何清理，目前占用了几十G？ - 知乎
C盘APPData目录如何清理，目前占用了几十G。C盘已经飘红了。
《星球大战》系列的最佳观影顺序是什么？ - 知乎
11、《星球大战9：天行者崛起》（Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker）2019 二、但如果你是一个对电影观感要求较高，偏向于追求观影的感觉体验，喜欢更好的画面、更刺激的特效、更新奇的时代科技 …
运放接成同相跟随器时，为何有些电路要在负反馈上增加一个电 …
这里，阶跃理解为rise time极其短，短到超过运放的slew rate。 同时，阶跃的变化电压大于0.7V（一个二极管导通压降） （3）就会发生，在某个很短瞬间，-端电压“ 没来得及 ”上升到与+端几乎相等。
HDMI 规格详细整理！HDMI 2.0、2.1 差在哪? 选择哪个好？
Nov 13, 2022 · Sony BRAVIA KDL- 46X2500、KDL-40X2500是第一个上市的HDMI 1.3屏幕。（1080p支持新的xvYCC色彩标准, 36bits deep color） EPSON EMP-TW1000是第一个上市 …
弹性模量和杨氏模量有什么区别吗？ - 知乎
Jun 13, 2018 · 可能有些人看了还是不太懂，这里在说一下，除非明确定义，否则一般使用上，都默认杨氏模量就是弹性模量。
推荐个好用的ai文章润色? - 知乎
“The rapidly aging population has led to a dramatic rise in the prevalence of depression among the elderly” 中的 “has led to a dramatic rise” 可以改为 “has contributed to a significant …
任天堂 Switch 最值得购买的 40 款游戏推荐 - 知乎
《怪物猎人 rise》的体量还是有点小了，本以为官方会在半年内以 DLC 的形式，一直更新怪物，毕竟这种模式有《动森》珠玉在前。 没想 3.0 之后卡普空就开始摆烂了，尽更新些皮肤什么的。
Switch 游戏推荐｜游戏简评 | —— 独占篇 - 知乎
Apr 20, 2023 · 不过这个系统非常容易被敌人的战斗节奏打乱，想熟练的使出并不容易，比《怪物猎人rise》的居合要难得多，后者只需要熟悉怪物的动作就能成功，前者对输入的要求高太多。虽然成功 …
我在3dm下了个游戏 下完是一堆压缩包，怎么样才能合成游戏 我各种 …
Sep 23, 2020 · 知乎，中文互联网高质量的问答社区和创作者聚集的原创内容平台，于 2011 年 1 月正式上线，以「让人们更好的分享 …
rise的反义词是set还是fall？ - 知乎
rise的反义词是set还是fall？ - 知乎
C盘APPData目录如何清理，目前占用了几十G？ - 知乎
C盘APPData目录如何清理，目前占用了几十G。C盘已经飘红了。
《星球大战》系列的最佳观影顺序是什么？ - 知乎
11、《星球大战9：天行者崛起》（Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker）2019 二、但如果你是一个对电影观感要求较高，偏 …
运放接成同相跟随器时，为何有些电路要在负反馈上增加一个电阻？
这里，阶跃理解为rise time极其短，短到超过运放的slew rate。 同时，阶跃的变化电压大于0.7V（一个二极管导通压降） （3）就 …
