Description

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.

** THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER **

‘A brilliant, utterly convincing account of the evolution of human society and why we are probably reaching humanity’s end days’ HENRY MARSH

‘Absolutely essential reading for understanding why past civilisations collapsed, and how to protect our own from the same fate’ LEWIS DARTNELL

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.

‘An excellent survey of human history through the collapses of Goliath-like kings, states and empires’ OBSERVER

‘A comprehensive overview of societal collapse, based on the analysis of dozens of cases spanning thousands of years from the Paleolithic to today. Highly recommended’ PETER TURCHIN

‘A deeply sobering and strangely inspiring history of how societies collapse – and how we can still save ours. Read it now, or your descendants will find it in the ruins’ JOHANN HARI

Publisher Review

A brilliant, utterly convincing account of the evolution of human society and why we are probably reaching humanity’s end days — Henry Marsh, author of DO NO HARM A deeply sobering and strangely inspiring history of how societies collapse – and how we can still save ours. Read it now, or your descendants will find it in the ruins — Johann Hari, author of STOLEN FOCUS A comprehensive overview of societal collapse, based on the analysis of dozens of cases spanning thousands of years from the Paleolithic to today. Highly recommended — Peter Turchin, author of END TIMES Absolutely essential reading for understanding why past civilisations collapsed, and how to protect our own from the same fate — Lewis Dartnell, author of THE KNOWLEDGE: How to Rebuild Our World After An Apocalypse Erudite, detailed and urgent. A masterpiece of data-driven collapsology — Paul Cooper, author of FALL OF CIVILIZATIONS In this wide-ranging book Luke Kemp presents a fascinating multi-millennial panorama of how societies have emerged, flourished, but eventually collapsed. He then addresses the lessons this historical record offers for safeguarding humanity’s future, in an era when unprecedented global connectedness and technological advance could engulf our entire civilisation in a terminal catastrophe — Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal, founder of CSER, and author of Our Final Century Luke Kemp is a writer and thinker of great talent and probity, and Goliath’s Curse is an important, clarifying, and most of all timely contribution to our age of anxiety — Gideon Lewis-Kraus, staff writer at the New Yorker A page-turning masterpiece and a necessary antidote to our age of crisis. If you like Jared Diamond you’ll love Goliath’s Curse. Compelling and profound — Roman Krznaric, author of THE GOOD ANCESTOR A great book. The history and plausible futures of collapse are set forth with incredible clarity and rigour. The worst outcome is – we hope – probably preventable if we are perceptive enough as a species, and plan enough to persevere against the stupidity and arrogance of the plutocrats in our midst — Danny Dorling, author of THE NEXT CRISIS This is the book on societal collapse that I had always hoped someone would write. It was worth the wait! — Walter Scheidel, author of The Great Leveler Luke Kemp shows that inequality breeds instability and true resilience lies in the democratisation of power. Important reading for anyone committed to a future beyond empire — Jason Hickel, author of Less is More and The Divide Goliath’s Curse is both a sweeping history and a forensic diagnosis of the systems that rule us and how they fall apart. This isn’t just about the past; it’s about the trajectory we’re on now. This book offers the clarity we desperately need in an overloaded, accelerating world — Nate Hagens, host of the Great Simplification Renowned existential risk specialist Luke Kemp looks both back into history and forward into the future, spelling out the dangers that we currently face and suggesting ways in which we might avoid the pitfalls leading to collapse, before our luck runs out. This is a brilliant and insightful book, guaranteed to keep you thinking during the day and wide awake with worry during the night — Eric Cline, author of 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed Anyone who doubts the importance of this conversation hasn’t been paying attention – the spectacle of the world’s richest man seizing chaotic control of the world’s most powerful nation underscores Luke Kemp’s points about the corrosive effects of grotesque inequity. It’s clearly past time that we figured out how to build down the scale of our societies, in interesting but urgent ways — Bill McKibben, author Here Comes The Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate, a Fresh Start for Our Civilization A profound and mind-expanding book that challenges the existing narratives of societal collapse. Through a long-term lens, Kemp asks us to reconsider histories we thought we knew, a present we take for granted, and future perils we have yet to meet. This is a chillingly enlightening read, which will reorient your understanding of the world and how it came to be — Richard Fisher, author of The Long View