Fall of Civilizations, Paul Cooper‘s history on the rise and fall of ancient civilisations, has charted at #6 on this week’s Sunday Times list for Paperback Nonfiction.

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 Aztecs of Central America; from Roman Britain to Rapa Nui. With meticulous research, breathtaking insight and dazzling, empathic storytelling, historian and novelist Paul Cooper evokes the majesty and jeopardy of these ancient civilizations, and asks what it might have felt like for a person alive at the time to witness the end of their world.

Fall of Civilizations: Stories of Greatness and Decline is out now. Grab your US copy here and your UK hardback copy here or, better, via your local bookshop or Bookshop.org. Pre-order your paperback copy here.

You can find out more about Paul here and subscribe to his podcast here.

Follow Paul on Bluesky @paulmmcooper.bsky.social.