The Year Civilization Collapsed (Turning Points in Ancient History)

Thorough examination of potential causes of the end of the Late Bronze Age sans arrogant assumptions or condescending references. Builds on previous work without discounting any and provides multiple points of view.

There is nothing specifically wrong with this book, but the reason I didn't like it is that its story is ultimately not very compelling. The mysterious and simultaneous decline of several powerful civilizations is presented here as a sort of historical puzzle. It's clear that a dramatic upheaval of some sort occurred, but only fragmentary insights are available into the whys and wherefores of these events. The author has to stretch a handful of facts to cover a great arc of history, and he does a commendable job of that. As popular history, however, it's lacking in the kind of personalities and events that make for good reading. If you're interested in archeology or you're a hard-core ancient history buff, you may find something here to sink your teeth into. For the rest of us, it's a whodunit where both the victim and the perpetrator never get a name or a face.

I really enjoyed this book and the author interview on NPR. It's whetted my appetite for ancient history; what were the first "Dark Ages" like?
-- Jay Brakefield, KEOS community radio, Bryan, Texas.

This is a fascinating look at a relatively little studied period of history that's best suited towards historians with an academic bent rather than the casual reader of history, though it's useful to anyone curious about how civilization grew and died in the early Mediterranean.

I gave this book three stars because it did throw a lot of evidence out there for a systemic collapse of late bronze age civilizations. But the actual section explaining the systemic collapse seemed incredibly short. It was a summary of the whole book's other sections which were exhaustive refutations of other apparently longstanding theories in archaeology. Also, the author went through all the evidence at each archaeological sites but didn't seem to tie it all together. The author seems to have assumed the reader had a basic working knowledge of the states and empires in the 12th century BC. An interesting work which might require the average reader to pullout a map to locate everything and have Wikipedia hand to understand all those political entities active in 1177 BC.

This is a sensibly written book that explores the collapse of a number of Bronze Age countries around 1177 B.C. That date, itself, is not precisely when the various countries succumbed. But it is a reasonable date to symbolize the event.

The book attempts to determine what led to the demise of major civilizations--from Troy to Mycenae to the Hittite Empire to Minos to . . . . The story notes that Egypt had to fight a mighty war to avoid being destroyed--but it was substantially weakened in the process.

The volume explores a number of posited causes for the decline of civilizations--earthquakes to "the Sea People" (no one is quite sure where they came from) to climate changes (with accompanying drought and famine) to internal conflicts within countries to the collapse of a well integrated international trade regime and so on. The title of Cline's final chapter suggests his conclusion--"A 'Perfect Storm' of Calamities." He adopts complexity theory as an explanation (not too well, in my opinion).

All in all, a thought provoking book, taking us to a time long ago when the nature of civilization changed greatly. . . .

Surprisingly readable, though with all of the references and footnotes you have to work at it some. The topic is interesting. However, the final conclusion was a bit disappointing. Kind of "well, we don't really know what happened, could have been lots of things"

I gave this book three stars because it did throw a lot of evidence out there for a systemic collapse of late bronze age civilizations. But the actual section explaining the systemic collapse seemed incredibly short. It was a summary of the whole book's other sections which were exhaustive refutations of other apparently longstanding theories in archaeology. Also, the author went through all the evidence at each archaeological sites but didn't seem to tie it all together. The author seems to have assumed the reader had a basic working knowledge of the states and empires in the 12th century BC. An interesting work which might require the average reader to pullout a map to locate everything and have Wikipedia hand to understand all those political entities active in 1177 BC.

This is a sensibly written book that explores the collapse of a number of Bronze Age countries around 1177 B.C. That date, itself, is not precisely when the various countries succumbed. But it is a reasonable date to symbolize the event.

The book attempts to determine what led to the demise of major civilizations--from Troy to Mycenae to the Hittite Empire to Minos to . . . . The story notes that Egypt had to fight a mighty war to avoid being destroyed--but it was substantially weakened in the process.

The volume explores a number of posited causes for the decline of civilizations--earthquakes to "the Sea People" (no one is quite sure where they came from) to climate changes (with accompanying drought and famine) to internal conflicts within countries to the collapse of a well integrated international trade regime and so on. The title of Cline's final chapter suggests his conclusion--"A 'Perfect Storm' of Calamities." He adopts complexity theory as an explanation (not too well, in my opinion).

All in all, a thought provoking book, taking us to a time long ago when the nature of civilization changed greatly. . . .

Surprisingly readable, though with all of the references and footnotes you have to work at it some. The topic is interesting. However, the final conclusion was a bit disappointing. Kind of "well, we don't really know what happened, could have been lots of things"

Eric Cline, provides good coverage of the collapse of the late bronze age civilization in the Eastern Mediterranean amid the predations of the so-called "Sea Peoples." . He provides a great deal of well-researched information and the book is generally well-written and accessible. However, I have several concerns. Mr. Cline displays, I believe, an unnecessary ambivalence about his findings. In trying balance various theories about what happened, the author gives too much credit to some very shaky ideas. I wish he had pursued the the climate change suggestions further. He mentions famines, mass movements of peoples, and complete destruction of dozens of cities, but does not look very closely at the climate data, which, granted is out side his level of expertise. Since no one seems to know who the Sea Peoples were, where they came from or where they went, he could have look more closely at the archaeology of both east and west Europe. Maybe there is nothing there but I wish he had looked into it.

This book has many fine point and is worth reading as several other reviewers have already pointed. This book helps weave a story on what happened through find facts from paleoseismology, archaeology, archaeoclimatology and other methods of scientific research.

I found this book very interesting and helpful for people who love Ancient Greek history. There is no outright answer to why The Bronze Age collapsed but many reasons and all of them are important to explain what happened and Professor Cline gives them all.

I am an amateur historian who just loves the stories and the connections between us and them. Yet I also enjoy well referenced research. Eric Cline's book is the perfect combination. Not a dry read at all - this book is entertaining and compelling. I will read whatever he next publishes.

Incredible amount of well researched and well developed information condensed down into a great book which paints an amazing picture of the rise and fall of the Late Bronze Age, an age which bares some striking resemblances to our own.

I am not a historian; just enjoy reading history. This time period is especially interesting to me

I found this book well written, easy read. Information well organized and well presented.

JW

The author brings diverse historical, geographical, anthropological and other data to lead up to 1177 BC. The result is to make today's reader thoughtful about how thriving, wealthy, and powerful civilizations - not just one, but a constellation of "nation-states" closely connected by commerce, can wither quickly.

Great overview of the period and all that was going on. Great consensus of the events that we know off in the region of the day For once the focus is not of a specific region but of the world at the time in a readable format.

Connects recent research with new theoretical approach. Wish the book had taken into account bronze age ships found in western Europe and the UK. Would have re-enforeced the concept of complex science.

The premise that the Bronze Age civilization collapsed in the year 1177 BC is intriguing. Cline's approach to making his argument is instinctively academic. He does a good job identifying the existing kingdoms (in some cases "assumed," based on archeological findings) by name and location throughout the Levant, eastern Mediterranean, Asia Minor, and the Tigris-Euphrates valley: Egyptian, Hittite, Assyrian, Babylonian, Mitanni, Ugarit, and others. He also includes findings and theories about the Mycenaean and Minoan civilizations. Cline offers support for his thesis by citing many letters (cuneiform tablets for example) exchanged among kings and merchants. He argues that the region was steeped in vibrant international trade that fed the growth and success of Bronze Age kingdoms for decades leading up to 1177 BC and the start of the Iron Age.

As is characteristic of many academic narratives, the reading is historically interesting but not embellished with the kind of excitement found in more entertaining presentations. Readers who choose this book may find it reads more like a college history text than a popular history of the world. All the elements of argumentation and proof are included in Cline's book. He is even careful to explain which pieces of evidence are fragmented, missing, or require more work in the field. That means that some of the evidence supports only speculative ideas currently; for example, who the so called "Sea Peoples" are and where they actually resided.

Probably the most edifying part of this book is its presentation of a Bronze Age world teaming with successful communication and international trade that somehow collapsed at the beginning of the Iron Age. The implications for a historical comparison to other grand civilizations, including our own, offer us a good deal to consider about our eventual demise. The problem for me is that so much more work and discovery is required before we can understand definitively who these Bronze Age peoples were, how they interacted, and why they dissolved.

The first 2/3 of this book is interesting, providing an overview of the archaeologist's view of trade and communication between the powers-that-were (PTW) in the eastern Mediterranean from ~1300 BC to ~1200 BC. Somewhat repetitive. The argument for an illustrious highly interconnected international civilization seems a bit forced; more fact, less interpretation would be desirable.

A major criticism is that there is no presentation of why the PTW arose in the first place; how can we intelligently consider their demise without understanding how they came into being?

The simultaneous collapse of the PTW may be a fact, but it's treated as an assumption. Maybe appropriate among professional archaeologists, but as an ignorant learner, I'd like a short chapter laying out the facts. The disappearance of trade and communication between the PTW, after all but Egypt collapsed, is not surprising. Who is left to write to ? Trade is a dangerous occupation in the absence of strong peace-keeping forces, which will have been severely undercut by the PTW's downfall. Who can pay for the trade items ? No net without nodes.

There is no consideration of surrounding peoples beyond the PTW. While major civilizations may have been lacking outside the PTW, large towns of Bronze Age people did exist, and numerous steppe people. These will have always exerted pressure on the PTW. The PTW did not exist in a vacuum, but are treated that way in this book.

There exists considerable archaeological evidence for negative climate change forcing the demise or drastic change of Bronze Age civilizations. The PTW were near each other, so a climate change that affected one would likely affect all. Egypt is the exception, because its water supply originates thousands of miles away from the Mediterranean. It is also the furthest south. Egyptian civilization continued.

When water and food become scarce, social tensions ignite. Unrelieved drought or cold can cause a dwindling food supply and eventual starvation. People react, sometimes violently, or just leave. Others, more desperate or better able to cope with dry and cold, arrive.

There's no need to raise the "butterfly effect" or theories of "collapse due to complexity". The book reaches to address a non-existant problem (simultaneous demise of the PTW). Also irritating is the lack of support for the Sea People. From this book, it would seem that they were just Ramses III's bad dream.

For someone like me who loves history, this book represents a good source of summarized information about an important period of History: The Bronze Age. In this book the author provides a good lot of information about the trade, cultural and political relations, wars and conquests among the Mycenaeans, Minoans, Egyptians, Hittites and other civilizations and peoples that predominated around the Mediterranean and Aegean seas, Palestine, Anatolia and Mesopotamia.
The author offers a panoramic historical view which fits the level of an amateur historian like me. In my case, this book not only gave me a compendium of the period, but also it wetted my appetite for more extensive and deeper readings covering this historical age. I highly recommend it to any interested layreader!

this is another book on the famous transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, I have described the more scholarly approach in Dickinson's book. Cline had decided to use the year 1177 BCE as the turning point, an exaggeration, of course, because these changes do not occur in one year, but throughout the centuries. The war of Troy (as described by Homer) is obviously a Bronze Age (and Troy destruction is about 1200 BCE), all weapons described in Homer are bronze, although the word sideros (iron) makes it appearance a few times. Cline is not as scholarly is Dickinson, but it narrates the same problem. Why did the palatial civilization come to an end? and why it remained down for long times? Dickinson's book is slightly better, but Cline is good too. If you are interested in the transition from Bronze to Iron, both books are good reading.

A good book about the collapse of early civilization, well written but obviously a book that does not have and can not have all the facts about the collapse. It indicates the Sea People were probably early Greeks, but even that is questionable. It does seem to allow us to pear back through the mists of the past and see a civilization of many kingdoms that were interdependent economically and who collapsed like a string of dominoes when what could have been climate change led to economic problems. The author indicates the new world order we live in with its global economy could realize the same kind of collapse if that world wide economy collapses.

This book presents a summary of current knowledge as of its publication date, of the state of research on civilizations that lived in the Eastern Mediterranean region from approx. 1500 BC to the date provided in the title. The author presents the information in an easily readable manner, almost like a story and focuses on the interrelationships between different cultures to form interconnected economies. He also looks at how this relates to today's world and our interconnected economies - not a bad analogy in some ways. However, there is a lot of redundancy and its elimination would make this an even better book with a tighter focus. I found myself saying, "yes, you already said that get to the point" several times. However, the material itself is interesting and overall fairly well presented. I would recommend this for people interested in either ancient history or the history of economics. This book left me looking forward to reading new research and seeing how it might tie into this information and with new questions of my own I plan to look up.

Eric Cline's 1177BC deals with a fascinating topic: the collapse of a wide range of civilizations that had flourished for centuries, right at the end of what we today recognize as the Bronze Age. I approached the topic eagerly, after the recommendation of the editor who saw the book through publication for Princeton Press. But I was soon disappointed: the author just didn't seem to make up his mind about what sort of book he wanted to write: one focused on explaining how historical and archeological research proceeds, or one actually telling a story based on our best understanding of the events and characters at play? Cline ends up with a strange mix of the two that is not quite as compelling as it could have been. Still, 1177BC held my attention through the end, so perhaps this is just a case of setting one's expectations too high at the beginning...

This is repetitive and dull. He spends half the book proving that their was a 'global' trade network (when he is really only referring to the Eastern Mediterranean) and then spends the next half of the book explaining how we really don't know what happened to cause this cessation of trade. It couldn't have been one single factor, according to the author, but was probably a combination of climate change, socio economic upheaval, or war. I also expected more about the 'Sea Peoples', but he minimizes their contribution to said 'collapse'. Strangely enough he doesn't even touch on the possibility of disease. BORING. I love history, but this author does neither knows how to tell a story, nor reach a conclusion.

An admirably clear book on a very important historical event that even most afficiandos of ancient history would know nothing about. The book discusses the Bronze Age Collapse, the greatest disaster in ancient history, greater than the fall of Rome 1,600 years later.

Before everyone jumps on me, let me qualify that. In both cases, I am refferring to a major collapse in civilisations, which I take to be literate, monument-building states with significant powers of social organisation. Ok, that's as far as I want to go. I have no doubt that someone somewhere will have a field-day babbling on about definitions of civilisation and collapse. Good on you, and I suggest you email the historian of this book with your quirky interpretations, and not the store.

The text is eminently clear, and admirable when it concludes "It's complicated, and we really don't know."

This book reveals the richness of the Bronze age and the second millenium BC in the Near East. What is most striking is the number of civilization centers, some well-known, others less, and their inter-connectedness.
Of course, at stated in some comments, the title is somewhat misleading: 1177 is not such a special year... but it does not really matter: it is just an easy to remember milestone. Likewise, this book does not give any firm answers on a number of questions, the main one being: who where those mysterious "Sea People"? What it does, is to give us the current status of our archeological knowledge and to show us how complex these questions are. In other words, although it is extremely readable, it is not taking any comfortable shortcuts, but opens up an exciting and advanced world.