War and Peace and War

The Rise and Fall of Empires

Peter Turchin

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English

Penguin
27 February 2007

History; General & world history

From the author of End Times

In War and Peace and War, Peter Turchinuses his expertise in evolutionary biology tooffer a bold new theory about the course of world history.

Turchin argues that the key to the formation of an empire is a society's capacity for collective action.

He demonstrates that high levels of cooperation are found where people have to band together to fight off a common enemy, and that this kind of cooperation led to the formation of the Roman and Russian empires, and the United States.

But as empires grow, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, conflict replaces cooperation, and dissolution inevitably follows. Eloquently argued and rich with historical examples, War and Peace and War offers a bold new theory about the course of world history with implications for nations today.

By: Peter Turchin
Imprint: Penguin
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: annotated edition
Dimensions: Height: 212mm, Width: 139mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 363g
ISBN: 9780452288195
ISBN 10: 0452288193
Pages: 416
Publication Date: 27 February 2007
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

"War And Peace And WarList of Maps Introduction ""So Peace Brings Warre and Warre Brings Peace"" Part I. ImperiogenesisThe Rise of Empires 1. A Band of Adventurers Defeats a Kingdom Ermak's Conquering Cossacks 2. Life on the Edge The Transformation of Russiaand America 3. Slaughter in the Forest At the Limites of the Roman Empire 4. Asabiya in the Desert Ibn Khaldun Discovers the Key to History 5. The Myth of Self-Interest And the Science of Cooperation 6. Born to Be Wolves The Origins of Rome 7. A Medieval Black Hole The Rise of the Great European Powers on Carolingian Marches Part II. ImperiopathosisThe Fall of Empires 8. The Other Side of the Wheel of Fortune From the Glorious Thirteenth Century into the Abyss of the Fourteenth 9. A New Idea of Renaissance Why Human Conflict Is Like a Forest Fire and an Epidemic 10. The Matthew Principle Why the Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Poorer 11. Wheels Within Wheels The Many Declines of the Roman Empire Part III. CliodynamicsA New Kind of History 12. War and Peace and Particles The Science of History 13. The Bowling Alley in History Measuring the Decline of Social Capital 14. The End of Empire? How the Mobile Phone Is Changing Cliodynamics Notes Acknowledgments Index"