The Peloponnesian War

by: Thucydides

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

by: Gibbon, Edward

Published between 1776 and 1788, this text is acknowledged as a masterpiece of English historical writing. Covering the history of Europe from the 2nd-century AD, to the fall of Constantinople in 1453, this edition includes footnotes, explanatory...

On Sparta

by: Plutarch

Plutarch's vivid and engaging portraits of the Spartans and their customs are a major source of our knowledge about the rise and fall of this remarkable Greek city-state between the sixth and third centuries BC.

The Collapse of Complex Societies

by: Tainter, Joseph A.

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.