Paul Cooper, author of the “eminently readable” (David Abulafia) Fall of Civilizations, a history on the rise and fall of ancient civilisations, has just featured on Tim Harford’s podcast ‘Cautionary Tales’.

They discuss “why powerful civilizations such as the Assyrians, the Han dynasty and the Roman Empire all ultimately collapsed”.

Listen to the full 40 minute episode here.

Based on the podcast with over 100 million downloads, 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 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 is out now. Grab your US copy here and your UK copy here or, better, via your local bookshop or Bookshop.org.

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

Follow Paul on Bluesky @paulmmcooper.bsky.social.