Civilization

A New York Times-bestselling historian charts how and why societies from ancient Greece to the modern era chose to utterly destroy their foes, and warns that similar wars of obliteration are possible in our time....

A groundbreaking narrative that explores the ways in which biology and history have shaped our understanding of what it means to be “human”.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Guns, Germs and Steel examines the rise of civilization and the issues its development has raised throughout history....

Yuval Noah Harari returns with an original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity's future and our quest to upgrade humans into gods....

A trailblazing account of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution—from the development of agriculture and cities to the emergence of "the state", political violence, and social inequality—revealing new possibilities for human emancipation....

A lively and engaging narrative history showing the common threads in the cultures that gave birth to our own....

This audiobook narrated by acclaimed archaeologist and best-selling author Eric Cline offers a breathtaking account of how the collapse of an ancient civilized world ushered in the first Dark Ages....

Here in a single volume is the entire, unabridged recording of Gibbon's masterpiece....

This audiobook narrated by John Chancer tells the gripping story of what happened after the Bronze Age collapsed—why some civilizations endured, why some gave way to new ones, and why some disappeared forever.

In The End Is Always Near, Dan Carlin looks at questions and historical events that force us to consider what sounds like fantasy; that we might suffer the same fate that all previous eras did....

The Emperor of All Maladies reveals the many faces of an iconic, shape-shifting disease that is the defining plague of our generation....

When three-month-old Lia Lee arrived at the county hospital emergency room in Merced, California, a chain of events was set in motion....

The epic history of the crossroads of the world - the meeting place of East and West and the birthplace of civilization....

A fascinating excursion into the history behind the place we call home....

At its height in 660 BCE, the kingdom of Assyria stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. It was the first empire the world had ever seen. Here, historian Eckart Frahm tells the epic story of Assyria and its formative role in global history....

So much of our human body is made up of salt that we'd be dead without it...

Mukherjee animates the quest to understand human heredity and its surprising influence on our lives, personalities, identities, fates, and choices....

Life is getting better at an accelerating rate. The pessimists insist that we will reach a turning point and things will get worse. But they have been saying this for 200 years....

A narrative history of how Attila, Genghis Khan and the so-called barbarians of the steppes shaped world civilization....

Providing an insider's look into the decades of research behind Zecharia Sitchin's complete works as well as an in-depth overview of his theories, this collection includes carefully selected chapters from the Earth Chronicles series....

The author explores how climate change, the population explosion, and political discord create the conditions for the collapse of civilization....

In The WEIRDest People in the World, Joseph Henrich draws on cutting-edge research in anthropology, psychology, economics, and evolutionary biology to explore these questions and more....

Faced with the ceaseless stream of news about war, crime, and terrorism, one could easily think we live in the most violent age ever seen....

In this, the first prose history in European civilization, Herodotus describes the growth of the Persian Empire with force, authority, and style....

From the creation of the first encyclopedia to Wikipedia, from ancient museums to modern kindergarten classes—this is Simon Winchester’s all-encompassing look at how humans acquire, retain, and pass on information, and how technology continues to change our lives and our minds....

What has transpired as a result of The Treaty of Tilsit?

A quick history of Connecticut's Charter Oak.

In each chapter of How to Survive History, Cody Cassidy explores how to survive one of history's greatest threats: succumbing to the lava flows of Pompeii, drowning on board the Titanic, falling prey to the Black Death, and more. Using hindsight and modern science to estimate everything from how fast you'd need to run to outpace a T. rex to the advantages of different body types in surviving the Donner Party tragedy, Cassidy gives you a detailed battle plan for survival, helping you learn about the era at the same time

Globalization is bringing international populations into ever-greater contact. Media and the Internet is reaching across nations and continents like never before. While many cultures welcome diffusion and are interested in different ideas and values, this is not always the case. People are wary of those unlike themselves and some cultures feel threatened by the West, the major force behind market capitalism. Specifically, many in the Muslim world feel their religion and customs are incompatible with western culture. This conflict is not unique to the modern era, but is a resurgence of an ...

The mourners fall silent with anticipation as Pericles walks briskly from the sepulchre to the erected stage. After a slight pause, he takes a deep breath and begins an eloquent funeral oration. He speaks on the glory of Athens and the honor of her dead. It is the Athenian winter of 431 B.C. and the city-state is engaged in a bitter war with its rival Sparta. Pericles’ resounding voice echoes off the surrounding hills and into the ears of Thucydides, the historian who records them in his work, The History of the Peloponnesian War. About eight hundred years later, a Christian bishop in ...

For millennia, the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World have been known for their aesthetic sublimity, ingenious engineering, and sheer, audacious magnitude: The Great Pyramids of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis, the Statue of Zeus, the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse at Alexandria. Echoing down time, each of these persists in our imagination as an emblem of the glory of antiquity, but beneath the familiar images is a surprising, revelatory history.

In "Ancient Egypt" journey back in time to one of the most fascinating civilizations in history. This concise yet comprehensive book takes you on a captivating exploration of the land of the pharaohs, offering a clear and insightful overview of ancient Egyptian culture, society, and achievements. Delve into the mystique of the pyramids, marvel at the grandeur of the temples, and unravel the secrets of the hieroglyphs. Discover the daily life of ordinary Egyptians, their beliefs in the afterlife, and the powerful rulers who shaped Egypt's destiny.

Based on the highly acclaimed podcast with over 1 million subscribers, Fall of Civilizations brilliantly explores how a range of ancient societies rose to power and sophistication, and how they tipped over into collapse. Across the centuries, we journey from the great empires of Mesopotamia to those of Khmer and Vijayanagara in Asia and Songhai in West Africa; from Byzantium to the Maya, Inca and Aztec empires of the Americas; from Roman Britain to Rapa Nui.

From the depths of the ocean to the farthest corners of the cosmos, "Incredible But True" traverses a vast array of topics, uncovering the most surprising and lesser-known truths of our universe. Listeners will be enthralled by quirky animal behaviors, bewildering scientific phenomena, and historical oddities that defy belief.

"Empire Down: A Historical Look at the Largest Civilizations in History and What Caused Them to Fail" is an eBook that takes you on an epic journey through the world's most magnificent empires. From the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt to the mighty Roman and Mongol empires, this comprehensive guide covers all the major players in the history of human civilization. What made these empires so great? What led to their ultimate demise? In Chapter 1, we'll explore the common factors that shaped the rise and fall of civilizations over the centuries. We'll delve into the fascinating...

Dive into a frosty exploration of survival with 'Frozen Bounty', transcending readers beyond the realms of everyday living and into a world clad in ice. Seamlessly blending history, science, and survival, 'Frozen Bounty' unveils the profound skillfulness and adaptability required to subsist in the relentless Ice Age. Structured with precision, the gripping chapters draw you into the ancient era; journey through the intricacies of foraging, ice-navigating, seasonal understanding, and plant identification. Uncover the vital role of edible flora and the danger lurking within poisonous plants, ...

Wales might seem like a quiet corner of the globe, but its history is anything but silent…. From Celtic warriors to Roman conquerors, this book takes you on a journey exploring a captivating nation forged through centuries of battles and achievements.

With flair and authority, historian and archaeologist Ian Morris draws uniquely on 15,000 years of history to offer fresh insights on what the future will bring. Deeply researched and brilliantly argued, Why The West Rules - For Now is a gripping and truly original history of the world.

In this book, I take readers on a delightful journey through an eclectic mix of topics designed to spark curiosity, inspire creativity, and provoke thought. Book ten in my "Get Smarter One Book at a Time" series explores a wide range of subjects, from the everyday to the eternal, through a blend of well-researched facts, personal insights, and imaginative exploration. With the help of advanced AI language models, I have curated a fascinating collection of ideas, studies, and observations that showcase the wonders of human knowledge and the power of technology. We explore uncommon musical ...

At the end of Eric Cline's bestselling history 1177 B.C., many of the Late Bronze Age civilizations of the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean lay in ruins, undone by invasion, revolt, natural disasters, famine, and the demise of international trade. An interconnected world that had boasted major empires and societies, relative peace, robust commerce, and monumental architecture was lost and the so-called First Dark Age had begun. Now, in After 1177 B.C., Cline tells the compelling story of what happened next, over four centuries, across the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean world.