Fall of Civilizations

Fall of Civilizations: Stories of Greatness and Decline by Paul Cooper

What causes civilizations to fall? What are some of the big civilizations that fell. This book explores many of the different failures, from ancient times up to Easter Island. Much was based on a podcast that he has. He does explore different reasons for failure. In the case of Easter Island, he rejects the "resource depletion" argument, and instead focusses on the European discovery. They dropped off diseases and took away many of the residents, leaving the culture in poor condition. Later a sheep ranch used the land, denuding what remained. Other cultures had different reason for collapse. The book goes somewhat chronologically, though it is covering individual experiences rather than a coherent narative.