The End Is Always Near

Apocalyptic Moments, from the Bronze Age Collapse to Nuclear Near Misses

By: Dan Carlin

Narrated by: Dan Carlin

The creator of the wildly popular award-winning podcast Hardcore History looks at some of the apocalyptic moments from the past as a way to frame the challenges of the future.

Do tough times create tougher people? Can humanity handle the power of its weapons without destroying itself? Will human technology or capabilities ever peak or regress? No one knows the answers to such questions, but no one asks them in a more interesting way than Dan Carlin.

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. Will our world ever become a ruin for future archaeologists to dig up and explore? The questions themselves are both philosophical and like something out of The Twilight Zone.

Combining his trademark mix of storytelling, history and weirdness Dan Carlin connects the past and future in fascinating and colorful ways. At the same time the questions he asks us to consider involve the most important issue imaginable: human survival. From the collapse of the Bronze Age to the challenges of the nuclear era the issue has hung over humanity like a persistent Sword of Damocles.

Inspired by his podcast, The End is Always Near challenges the way we look at the past and ourselves. In this absorbing compendium, Carlin embarks on a whole new set of stories and major cliffhangers that will keep readers enthralled. Idiosyncratic and erudite, offbeat yet profound, The End is Always Near examines issues that are rarely presented, and makes the past immediately relevant to our very turbulent present.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Dan Carlin is always awesome

Dan Carlin is a fantastic student of history. His podcast is always enlightening. This book is a wonderful accumulation of one of his most prominent themes throughout his shows. He asks the questions that many historians are afraid to touch but have a lot of relevance when examining the arc of human history.

It is obvious that Dan is reading from his text and not riffing like he does on the podcast, but that dosent take away from this work at all. I will say I did miss some of the tangents and sidebars Dan indulges in on his podcast, but overall, this was a very entertaining and informative book. Any fan of history will enjoy this, wether they are familiar with Dan or not. An easy 5 stars from me!

One of the BEST storytellers of our time!

I have listened to Dan Carlin’s podcasts for over ten years. He is one of the best story tellers of our time. I don’t care what he says, HE IS A HISTORIAN! This book does not disappoint and will capture your attention. I only wish it was longer!

love it

I've been a long time listener
this book can't help but remind me of the animated classic "Heavy Metal "

Thought Provoking

Great presentation and accurate. I love considering topics from a variety of world views and this book definitely exposed many viewpoints I had never considered before

Maybe we are developing the tools to save us in the end?

This narration was awesome… like any podcast Mr. Carlin does this book didn’t disappoints… great insights for a posible future that hopefully contribute to open the minds of the next generation in the stile of “self-fulfilling-prophecy”