Book Review – Fall of Civilizations

Fall of Civilizations: Stories of Greatness and Decline by Paul M.M. Cooper
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Arguably this book could have been shortened to “greed.” Or at least some of the chapters could have been effectively summarized as “Rome” or “Spain.” And yet the fascinating parts of the deaths of civilizations lie in the details, here copiously supplied by the author. I particularly loved the range of dead societies covered by the text, from the ancient to the nearly modern, from the places everyone’s heard of to whole civilizations frequently omitted from high school history texts. Paul M.M. Cooper’s writing is engaging, neither frivolous nor academically stuffy. Though it took me awhile to get through it, I enjoyed the experience.

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