| Description |
viii, 405 pages : maps ; 22 cm |
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text txt rdacontent |
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unmediated n rdamedia |
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volume nc rdacarrier |
| Note |
"A Plume book." |
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Originally published: Pi Press, 2006. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 357-388) and index. |
| Contents |
Introduction: "So peace brings warre and warre brings peace" -- pt. I. Imperiogenesis: the rise of empires. A band of adventurers defeats a kingdom: Ermak's conquering Cossacks ; Life on the edge: the transformation of Russia -- and America ; Slaughter in the forest: at the limites of the Roman empire ; Asabiya in the desert: Ibn Khaldun discovers the key to history ; The myth of self-interest: and the science of cooperation ; Born to the wolves: the origins of Rome ; A medieval black hole: the rise of the great European powers on Carolingian marches -- pt. II. Imperiopathosis: the fall of empires. The other side of the wheel of fortune: from the glorious thirteenth century into the abyss of the fourteenth ; A new idea of Renaissance: why human conflict is like a forest fire and an epidemic ; The Matthew principle: why the rich get richer and the poor get poorer ; Wheels within wheels: the many declines of the Roman empire -- pt. III. Cliodynamics: a new kind of history. War and peace and particles: the science of history ; The bowling alley in history: measuring the decline of social capital ; The end of empire?: how the mobile phone is changing Cliodynamics. |
| Summary |
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. |
| Subject |
World history.
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History -- Mathematical models.
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Historiometry.
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Historiometry. (OCoLC)fst00958234
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History -- Mathematical models.
(OCoLC)fst00958258
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World history. (OCoLC)fst01181345
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| ISBN |
9780452288195 |
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0452288193 (pbk.) |
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0131499963 |
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9780131499966 |
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