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Fall of Civilizations
- Stories of Greatness and Decline
- Narrated by: Paul Cooper
- Length: 19 hrs and 25 mins
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Fall of Civilizations
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Publisher's summary
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.
Critic 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
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