ABSTRACT
As our society confronts the impacts of globalization and global systemic risks—such as financial contagion, climate change, and epidemics—what can studies of the past tell us about our present and future? How Worlds Collapse offers case studies of societies that either collapsed or overcame cataclysmic adversity. The authors in this volume find commonalities between past civilizations and our current society, tracing patterns, strategies, and early warning signs that can inform decision-making today. While today’s world presents unique challenges, many mechanisms, dynamics, and fundamental challenges to the foundations of civilization have been consistent throughout history—highlighting essential lessons for the future.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part Section 1|90 pages
Theory and Insights of Historical Collapse
chapter 3|24 pages
Diminishing Returns on Extraction
part Section 2|166 pages
Historical and Archaeology Investigations of Collapse
chapter 5|11 pages
“Mind the Gap”
chapter 11|30 pages
The Cases of Novgorod and Muscovy
part Section 3|54 pages
Systemic Collapse Insights from Ecology, Climate, and the Environment
part Section 4|104 pages
Future Systemic Collapse and Quantitative Modeling