TY - BOOK ID - 17830560 TI - The collapse of complex societies PY - 1990 SN - 052138673X 9780521386739 PB - Cambridge Cambridge University press DB - UniCat KW - Civilization, Ancient KW - Comparative civilization KW - Civilization KW - Philosophy KW - Civilization - Philosophy UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:17830560 AB - 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. ER -