Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy in exchange for honest feedback

Despite its focus on devastation, Fall of Civilizations attests to humanity's resilience as it attempts to answer the question, "What will become of us?"

Full review on Shelf Awareness at https://www.shelf-awareness.com/sar-issue.html?issue=1243#m24269.

“Fall of Civilizations” is my favorite podcast so this was one of my most anticipated books. Paul’s book is a perfect complement to these first podcast episodes and is not to be missed. He has a way of writing history so that it’s pure storytelling magic — except it’s been researched with meticulous care and respect for accuracy. Even non-history geeks will enjoy his work. My advice: get his audiobook (narrated by Paul) too to for a doubly immersive and enjoyable experience!

Some things work better when you know less. I used to love the podcast this book was based on, and it inspired me to take a class on civilizational collapse in the context of environmental change, so I was super excited about this book. Unfortunately, Cooper falls into the trap of relying mostly on historians' accounts of civilizational collapses, which are often not up to date on the most recent environmental research coming out of archaeological sites. This is especially clear in the section about the Khmer, which attributes a lot of the collapse to political reasons based off highly unreliable written records from nearby polities (see Vickery's 1977 dissertation for a debunking of them). Appallingly, he doesn't cite Buckley's seminal 2010 paper studying the tree rings of Angkor and the associated drought. This chapter was an insult to Brendan Buckley and Dan Penny, who have done excellent work on this topic. I know Cooper can do better - the Easter Island chapter is fantastic. I just can't trust the other chapters which I have less knowledge about to be scientifically accurate given my experience with the Khmer chapter.

There is a lot to like and find new in Paul Cooper's Fall of Civilizations. Rather than merely highlight traditional civilizations (though he does address several of those), Cooper spends much of his book telling the story of societies that most readers will be less familiar with, whether in Africa, Asia, Latin America, or even parts of Europe. He tells how they were born, their rise to prominence, and how they then declined. In doing so he uses a lot of valuable information. Even a less-than-casual reader of world history will find something new here. All good. There was clearly a lot of research and thought that went into this.

But I was surprised that he did not more consistently draw direct lessons to today as he wrote, even if he did so in some cases. It is really in his epilog that he discusses the challenges we face today. But this was not too profound or original. As I write this, we are in the midst of a run of record heat accompanied by an unusually fierce hurricane, forest fires, and more. We don't really need another book to tell us we are in the midst of dangerous climate change (which was really only a factor in a couple of the societies Cooper writes about). In fairness, however, he does come to some interesting conclusions. This included a section on how this may play out with even a somewhat optimistic conclusion on how it might end.

In short, an interesting book but perhaps one with missed opportunities to do a little more to make it a great one.

Intriguing and ranging examination of extinct civilizations from antiquity up until the early modern period. Stronger when discussing less well known examples as opposed to the usual suspects. When the author was in his narrative groove the book could be hard to put down. Strong grasp of the facts and provided new insight into civilizations whose decline and fall I had already read a lot about. Excited to explore more titles from this author.

An absolutely fascinating read based on an absolutely fascinating podcast, this is a great addition to any nonfiction fan's shelf!

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Fall of Civilizations by Paul Cooper is a nonfiction exploration of why empires around the world fell and what we lost in the fall. From Sumarians to Carthage and the Mayans to East Island, Cooper draws connections between empires and how their falls impacted each other.

One of the things I really liked was how Paul Cooper called out the conspiracy theory that the Mayans couldn't have built their own pyramids and clearly states that the Mayans were a sophisticated empire with an agricultural system and much, much larger population than I was aware of. Before reading this, I didn't know how much deforestation the Mayans had done nor just how far their cities stretched and the technology we have to learn these things.

While I was aware of the Mughal Empire, I can't remember hearing about the Vijayanagara Empire of the Indian subcontinent. Cooper uses the chance to bring up how India is home to many rich cultures and languages and that religion is a more complicated subject than Hinduism vs Buddhism. I learned a lot from their section and will be doing more research on the Vijayanagara Empire and the Khmer Empire in the future.

The use of quotes from contemporaries of these societies, both inside and outside, help set the scene for how these falls were viewed and various important figures were viewed. Primary sources are always a must when making a case and these certainly do help show that the fall of an empire can feel like the end of the world or that something that feels so sturdy can still collapse if the right details are in place.

The biggest thing that I appreciated was how Cooper drew attention to the fact that we still don't know what language the Trojans spoke or exactly where the Sumerians came from. Because of the information lost when these empires died out or were sieged, we may never have the answers. It's a strong case for the importance of preserving information and documenting as much as we can.

I would recommend this to readers of nonfiction about historical empires and those looking for a book discussing what we lose when a culture is gone.

If you are a fan of the Fall of Civilization podcats, you will love this book, it is some of the best episodes, but on a page! I focus my history study on the early 20th century, but this book (and pod) is a great reminder how intersting early civilizations are.

Thank you NetGalley Harlequin Trade Publishing | Hanover Square Press for a copy and letting me geek out on history.

So I'm studying to be an archaeologist and I thought this book was so interesting. I learned a lot about the cultures that aren't my specialty and just had a good time reading

Paul Cooper’s Fall of Civilizations: Stories of Greatness and Decline takes the interests, enthusiasm and curiosity of the author and translates it from his popular podcast format into a book.

so we come to Paul Cooper’s Fall of Civilizations. In terms of total numbers of episodes, Cooper’s podcast oeuvre is much less than the aforementioned podcasts, his large subscriber base, however, made him a natural to land a book deal, however. His podcast, and perforce, the book, does what it says on the tin; it tackles a variety of civilizations, what made them tick, and why they collapsed.

My thanks to both Netgalley and the publisher Harlequin Trade Publishing - Hanover Square Press for an advance copy of this book on societies that rose, and eventually fell, leaving ruins, questions and sometimes not even a memory of their existence.

I never get over the fact that America is such a young country, one that has changed the world in many ways, some good, maybe a little more bad. Yet England is functional pubs that are older than the idea of America. America might be the most powerful Empire the world has ever seen, but history has a habit of running in cycles. Somehow, someway even this will fade. As so many of the places that are discussed in this book have faded. And hopefully there will be a chronologer as talented as Paul Cooper to detail what we once had. Fall of Civilizations: Stories of Greatness and Decline is a look at various empires and societies that rose, fell, were forgotten, or wiped from memories, but still have stories to tell, stories that might tell us a lot about our own futures.

The book focuses on 14 different places, many that will be known from history classes, but as names and not for who they were. These range from the ancient past, to the "Discovery" of the New World, falling and failing for various reasons. Cooper introduces the culture, the people, how they rose in power, different kings and leaders, and of course what lead to the decline. Cooper also discusses notable achievements, discussing the Sumerian and their invention of written language, and numbers, which led them to make fertile areas of the desert supplying food for many. Cooper looks at different sources, Greek tales, the Bible, explorers' notes and letters, and not only looks at the society but the people who lived there. What there lives were like, and how they ended. There are a lot of endings. Some through governmental rot and decay, climate change from volcanos, or floods. Pestilence. And war. Always war.

The book is based on the podcast hosted and written by Cooper, one which I have not heard, but will have to add to my list. The writing is very good. Not only factual, and historical but very empathic, identifying with the fact these people lived and died, and were soon forgotten by so many. When Cooper writes of the Greek historian Xenophon, running for his life, but still in awe of the great ruins he cam across there is a real power here, one that I did not expect. One could see this as a book, 100 Great Civilizations that died, with a funny cover, jokes on every page about people in the past, and a gosh then they died comment. This is more. This is more introspective, why they fell, what reasons led up to this, is there any events that could have changed anything. Can we learn anything from it?

Finishing this I felt a little more maudlin than I expected, but I really enjoyed this book quite a bit. I liked the in-depth history, the respect, and yes the humor which was used well. I learned a lot, and I love that in a book. A great book for people who love history, or for role players who want to build a a world for their players, one that seems real. This would be a great book to use for background information. I can't wait to start listening to the podcasts also.

This book is basically some of the best episodes of the fall of civilizations podcast in written form. I love the podcast so the book was right up my alley - but I didn’t get much new from it. Good to have around to page through though.

I've never listened to the "Fall of Civilizations" podcast, so I went into this book blind. I like the writing style, Cooper does a nice job of packing in a lot of information while maintaining a smooth, flowing narration style. I was a bit disappointed in the choice of civilizations, since most of them included here are pretty popular topics of discussion already. That's great if you're interested in those, and Cooper covers them very well, I just was hoping to learn more about some civilizations that are less frequently discussed.

I think the writing style and information here can appeal to both academics and casual hobbyists.

I'm not a reader of big books of history and I was not familiar with Paul Cooper and his podcast. I received a copy of this book from Net Galley based on the description.
I enjoyed reading every bit of the book. It flowed so easily and was clear about each civilization covered. I felt educated by all the chapters. Some, such as the Aztec civilization and Easter Island were as interesting as any fiction I've read.
I'm ready to read other books by the author.
I'm now a reader of history!

I've already listened to every single episode of of the "Fall of Civilizations" podcast - and I still enjoyed myself immensely as I read this. All the information feels just as rich and interesting as when I first heard Cooper narrate right to me while cooking dinner or going out for a walk. This book is perfect both for fans like myself, or for those who simple love a big, juicy history read.....also like myself, actually.

I downloaded this book because I have a great love for history and also because I was doing research for a book about ancient empires and their falls and this book is about that. Cooper's writing is easy to understand but is packed with information which is a great balance because when readers are given a lot of information they often check out or get overwhelmed. I never felt overwhelmed with the information Cooper gave because he did so in a way that was easy to understand and digest as a reader. I liked that each civilization had it's own chapter that did a deep dive into the civilization and all the factors that caused them to fall from their heights. I really liked this and if you are looking for a good nonfiction book that covers a lot of empires and history this is the one for you.