‘Gripping … the book fulfils its huge ambition, and Diamond is the only man who could have written it’ — Economist. In Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive, Jared Diamond — author of the acclaimed Guns, Germs and Steel — turns his gaze to one of history’s most haunting questions: why do great civilisations crumble? Now available in a revised edition with a new afterword, this visionary work examines the fates of the people who carved the forsaken statues of Easter Island, the architects behind the crumbling Maya pyramids, and the builders of the temples at Angkor Wat — now swallowed by jungle. Drawing on a remarkable breadth of evidence and tracing the interlocking pressures of climate, culture, and human decision-making that cause societies to turn against themselves, Diamond also asks what separates collapse from survival. Crucially, unlike our ancestors, we have the benefit of their example — and the knowledge to choose differently. ‘A grand sweep from a master storyteller of the human race’ — Daily Mail. ‘Riveting, superb, terrifying’ — Observer. ‘This book shines like all Diamond’s work’ — Sunday Times.
ISBN 13: 9780241958681
Author: Jared Diamond
