Samuel Cohn is Professor of Sociology at Texas A & M University. He is the Founder and First President of the American Sociological Association Section on Development He is author of The Process of Occupational Sex-typing and Employment and Development under Globalization. Follow him on X @Samuel__Cohn.

• THE REALITY OF SOCIETAL DEATH1. All Societies Die2. Is a Fall Really a Fall?3. The Fall of the Byzantine Empire: The Greatest Story You've Never Heard4. The End Comes to Byzantium5. The Environmental Causes of Violence in the Middle East6. The French Revolution: Fighting about Taxes at the Worst Possible Time7. How States Actually Die: The Real-Life Death of Somalia8. Somalia after the Fall9. What Links These Stories?TEMPTING FALSE STEPS10. Rethinking Ecological Catastrophe11. Rethinking Moral CrisisTHINKING BIG ABOUT THINKING BIG12. Networks of Cooperation13. Why Bigger Is Better14. Legitimation: So Hard to Earn, So Precious to Have15. Psychological Foundations of Societal SurvivalWHAT WOULD BE LOST16. Progress That Is Real: The Reduction of Poverty17. Progress That Is Real: The Improvement in Health18. Progress That Is Real: The Reduction of Violent CrimeTHE SEEDS OF TROUBLE19. The Motivation to Not Cooperate: The Origins of Civilization in Raiding20. Primitive Accumulation Today: Raiding Is Not Dead21. he Motivation to Not Cooperate: How Europe Historically Underdeveloped Much of the World22. What Can Go Wrong When Western Companies Invest in Poor Nations23. Cycles of Catastrophic DebtTHE HIDDEN SOURCE OF STRENGTH24. East Asian Secrets of Economic Growth25. Big Government and Prosperity in the United States26. The Miracle of Airports27. The Origins of National Technological Advantage28. The Economic Returns to Funding Scientific Research29. The Tax Revolt: How the Conservative Middle Class Became the Revolutionary Class of Capitalism30. Why Tax Cuts Do Not Create JobsCRIME, CORRUPTION AND VIOLENCE31. The Explosion of Crime in the Global South32. The Parallel Power: The Criminal Second State33. A Guide to Corruption for Naive Idealists34. Technical Demoralization35. What It Takes to Clean Up Corruption36. Ethnic Violence: The Economic Basis of Hatred37. Working at Creating a Culture of Hatred38. Landlessness and Political Violence39. Landlessness and Political Violence: The Evidence40. The Global Land Grab41. Population Growth and LandlessnessTRIGGERS OF DESTRUCTION42. Triggers of Destruction43. Long-Term Booms and Busts in Capitalism44. Technological and International Causes of Stagnation45. Will There Be a Sixth Mensch Cycle?46. Ever-Expanding Frontiers of Ecological Destruction47. Why Women's Power Matters48. Patriarchy Redux?THE CIRCLE OF SOCIETAL DEATH49. The Circle of Societal Death50. Triggering the Circle of Societal DeathCHANGING THE CULTURE, CHANGING THE WORLD51. Creating a Culture of Societal Survival52. Changing the Culture of One-Third of the World: How Christianity Spread from Palestine53. Creating a Culture of Caretaking: Women in Ancient Rome and 2000's Uganda54. Creating Lasting Meaningful Social Reform: The Abolition of Slavery I55. Creating Lasting Meaningful Social Reform: The Abolition of Slavery II56. Doing the Right Thing under Impossible Conditions: Saving the Jews under Nazism57. What You Can Do to Save the World

All Societies Die is judiciously researched and expertly written, and its philosophical insights could potentially make the difference between utopia and dystopia in both the present and the future. Highly recommended, especially for public and college library Social Issues collections.(Midwest Book Review) This exciting and thought-provoking book provides a brief historical analysis of the causes of death of great civilizations by depicting factors that led to the collapse of powerful empires.(Social Forces) In this highly accessible and thought-provoking book, Cohn addresses the factors that contribute to societal collapse with the aim of identifying what needs to be collectively addressed to avoid the collapse of today's global society. Informed by historical and contemporary sources, this is an important contribution to historical and political sociology collections.(Choice)