Summary of Collapse

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, by Jared Diamond, is a monumental work exploring why some societies have succeeded and why some, including our own, are on the brink of disaster. Diamond analyzes the rise and fall of civilizations by looking at a variety of case studies that include the integration of Greenland Viking settlers, the collapse of Mayan cities, and the continued troubles in Rwanda. He explains how environmental factors, such as deforestation and soil degradation, have played a role in the collapse of societies and how the surviving peoples responded. Diamond also looks at the responses of modern nations to similar environmental threats and the lessons our globally-connected world can learn from the overreach and errors of past civilizations.