Book
Goliath's curse : the history and future of societal collapse / Luke Kemp.
"A radical retelling of human history through collapse -- from the dawn of our species to the urgent existential threats of the twenty-first century and beyond. Why do civilisations collapse? Is human progress possible? Are we approaching our endgame? For the first 200,000 years of human history, hunter-gathering Homo sapiens lived in fluid, egalitarian civilizations that thwarted any individual or group from ruling permanently. Then, around 12,000 years ago, that began to change. As we reluctantly congregated in the first farms and cities, people began to rely on novel lootable resources like grain and fish for their daily sustenance. And when more powerful weapons became available, small groups began to seize control of these valuable commodities. This inequality in resources soon tipped over into inequality in power, and we started to adopt more primal, hierarchical forms of organization. Power was concentrated in masters, kings, pharaohs and emperors (and ideologies were born to justify their rule). Goliath-like states and empires -- with vast bureaucracies and militaries -- carved up and dominated the globe. What brought them down? Whether in the early cities of Cahokia in North America or Tiwanaku in South America, or the sprawling empires of Egypt, Rome and China, it was increasing inequality and concentrations of power that hollowed these Goliaths out before an external shock brought them crashing down. These collapses were written up as apocalyptic, but in truth they were usually a blessing for most of the population. Now we live in a single global Goliath. Growth obsessed, extractive institutions like the fossil fuel industry, big tech and military-industrial complexes rule our world and produce new ways of annihilating our species, from climate change to nuclear war. Our systems are now so fast, complex and interconnected that a future collapse will likely be global, swift and irreversible. All of us now face a choice -- we must learn to democratically control Goliath, or the next collapse may be our last"-- Provided by publisher.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780593321355 (hardcover)
- Physical Description: viii, 579 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm
- Publisher: New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2025.
Content descriptions
| Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Civilization. Regression (Civilization) Regression (Civilization) > History. Social change. |
Available copies
- 0 of 1 copy available at Tsuga Consortium.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cookstown Branch | 303.45 Kem | 31681010436178 | NONFIC | Checked out | 02/24/2026 |
- Baker & Taylor
A vast and unprecedented survey of societal collapse -- stretching from the Bronze Age to the age of silicon -- that digs through the ruins of fallen societies to understand the root causes of their downfall and the most dire consequences for our future.Stepping back to look at our precariously interdependent global society of today -- with the threat of nuclear war ever present and the world heating up faster than it did before the Great Permian Extinction, which wiped away 80-90 percent of life on Earth -- one couldn't be blamed for asking : Will we make it? Addressing this question with the seriousness it demands, Cambridge scholar Luke Kemp conducts a historical autopsy that stretches across five millennia, and more than 440 societal lifespans, fromthe first Egyptian dynasty to the modern-day United Kingdom, using the latest discoveries from archaeology and anthropology to reveal profound and often counterintuitive insights into why exactly societies fail. While books like Jared Diamond's Collapse zoom in on only a few case studies, Kemp's embrace of a 'deep systems' approach, availing himself of the largest dataset possible, allows him to discover the broader trends, and deeper causes, of collapse that pose future risks -- without abandoning the gripping historical narratives that bring these pages alive. Goliath's Curse is a stark reminder that there are both bright and dark sides to societal collapse -- that it is not necessarily a reversion to chaos or a dark age -- and that making a more resilient world may well mean making a more just one. - Baker & Taylor
This sweeping analysis of societal collapse across history examines over 440 civilizations to uncover the deep systemic causes of their downfall and exploring what these patterns reveal about the risks and resilience of our interconnected world today. - Random House, Inc.
âIn the modern tradition of Big Books of human history like Yuval Noah Harariâs Sapiens and David Graeber and David Wengrowâs The Dawn of Everything, Goliathâs Curse provides a novel theory of civilizational development. . . . [It] feels something like reading the French economist Thomas Piketty filtered through Mad Max: Fury Road.â âEd Simon, The New York Times Book Review
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE CONVERSATION AND KIRKUS ⢠A NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB'S MUST-READ BOOK ⢠SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER ⢠A radical retelling of human history through the cycle of societal collapse
âDeeply sobering and strangely inspiring. . . . Read it now, or your descendants will find it in the ruins.â âJohann Hari, author of Stolen Focus
In Goliathâs Curse, Cambridge scholar Luke Kemp conducts a historical autopsy on our species, from the earliest cities to the collapse of modern states like Somalia. He traces the emergence of âGoliathsâ: large societies built on a collection of hierarchies that are also terrifyingly fragile, collapsing time after time across the world. Drawing on historical databases and the latest discoveries in archaeology and anthropology, he uncovers groundbreaking revelations:- More democratic societies tend to be more resilient.
- In our modern, global Goliath, a collapse is likely to be long-lasting and more dire than ever before.
- Collapse may be invisible until after it has occurred. Itâs possible weâre living through one now.
- Collapse has often had a more positive outcome for the general population than for the 1%.
- All Goliaths contain the seeds of their own demise.
As useful for finding a way forward as it is for diagnosing our precarious present, Goliathâs Curse is a stark reminder that there are both bright and dark sides to societal collapseâthat it is not necessarily a reversion to chaos or a dark ageâand that making a more resilient world may well mean making a more just one.
