The Collapse of Complex Societies

Renting vs. Buying This Textbook

Renting is usually cheapest if you only need the book for one term: you return it with a free prepaid label when the term ends. Buying used can beat renting when the sell-back price is high, so compare the sell-back price with the rental price before you decide. An eTextbook arrives instantly but usually expires. Rentals and used copies rarely include working access codes.

Always match the ISBN on your syllabus (9780521386739) before you order; different editions have different ISBNs.

About This Book

Any explanation of political collapse carries lessons not just for the study of ancient societies, but for the members of all complex societies in both the present and future. Dr Tainter describes nearly two dozen cases of collapse and reviews more than 2000 years of explanations. He then develops a new and far-reaching theory that accounts for collapse among diverse kinds of societies, evaluating his model and clarifying the processes of disintegration by detailed studies of the Roman, Mayan and Chacoan collapses.

More History Textbooks

• Give Me Liberty! An American History by Eric Foner
• From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans by John Hope Franklin
• A People & a Nation: A History of the United States by Mary Beth Norton, Carol Sheriff, David W. Blight, Howard…
• Onward Christian Soldiers? The Religious Right in American Politics by Clyde Wilcox
• Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali (Revised Edition) (Longman African Writers) by Djibril Tamsir Niane, G. D. Pickett
• Deculturalization and the Struggle for Equality: A Brief History of the Education of Dominated Cultures in the… by Joel H. Spring