The Fate of Empires: Being an Inquiry Into the Stability of Civilisation Paperback – March 28, 2018

We've all heard the phrase, "Dynamite comes in small packages." This is a short book that packs a huge punch inasmuch as the history contained is so interesting. It's a pleasant surprise because I was not expecting much from a short book; however, the subject matter intrigued me. I actually bought one for me and one for my brother. He was equally impressed.

The book arrived on time and in excellent condition.This book was written 103 years ago but speaks to our time as a nation now. It is absolutely worthwhile and hives great insight into societies across the ages. The first part of the book is somewhat difficult to read based both on writing style (author was British) and subject. It does, however, lay the perfect groundwork for understanding the second half of the book's points regarding Rome and China. It would be a great study book for a group of dedicated readers who are interested in history and ideas concerning our society today.

A brief but astute study of how religious cultures effect ethnic survival. I agree with other reviewers that the first part is too difficult to traverse. But the second part showed me many interesting details about the old religious cultures of Rome and China that I had not known, and I've been studying religions for decades. He argues that cosmocentric religion, entailing devotion to religious ideals that transcend geographical location or state, as opposed to geocentric religion, is a primary factor insuring the survival of civilizations through hardships. This does not at all mean that those with greater abilities to survive will necessarily be overall happier, but just that they will be better able to survive. A modern reader should try to overlook the author's archaic use of the word race to mean ethnicity. My understandings of why ancient Roman religion initially clashed with Christianity, and the broader implications of the Chinese concept of filial duty, are forever expanded due to having read this book.

It’s odd that I read this book to begin with because I thought I was ordering “Fate of Empires” by John Bagot Glubb (which I finally found I could order from Amazon.co.uk.). But since it was already loaded into my Kindle device I decided to read it through. The Part Two discussions of Rome and China were very interesting, which rescued the book. If you don’t mind not being able to follow a few arguments because you don’t know what he is talking about, then just read Part Two – the good stuff. You see, to read Part One, to know what his Arguments and Thinking Constructs are, well, I can’t say that such ideas will change your life. Often his arguments seem contrived and labored. He is like a lawyer arguing a bad case to a stupid jury, hoping that his eloquence will win the day. But, I have a feeling that the Sense of some of his Logical and Intellectual Constructs will stick with me. The most troublesome and annoying Construct was that of “Religious Motive”. He posits the necessity of a Religious Motive in order to rescue Civilizations from the Curse of the most Temporary Self Interested Rational Motives (which destroy Civilization mostly because people find it irrationally annoying to put up with raising children. Good news, there, since we won’t have to worry about Over Population after all, huh?... since Modern Civilization, as he would see it, is entirely rational… but still the Birth Rate is above Replacement, isn’t it?). But he appraises darn few Religions in terms of evaluating how fit they are for his Religious Motive model. He tells us that Religions can not be ‘ad hoc’, which I take to mean that a committee can’t just design a Great Religion (though what self-respecting Atheist wouldn’t insist that ALL of the ‘Great’ Religions had been effectively designed by Committee in order to achieve some desired ends). He insists that the Religious Motive must be Cosmo centric, as opposed to Geo-centric (Universal and not Worldly). But then insists that Chinese Taoism, rooted in Ancestor Worship, is somehow Cosmo-centric, when how the heck can you get Worldlier then great granddad’s bones and ashes. Apparently the idea behind the compulsion behind Chinese Ancestor Worship is that the Ancestors need descendants to carry on with the lighting of incense sticks or they will go out of existence (that is, finally die, as though they did not die enough the first time!) and we can’t allow that to happen, and so the Chinese have to breed like rabbits – and THAT is supposed to be somehow Cosmo-Centric – screwing and making babies! But the little book is fascinating and there is a certain amount of suspense in it as you wonder where he is going with it, until the end (spoiler alert!) when he admits that Rome didn’t work because of one extreme and China did not work because of the other extreme. He tells us that we would all need Just The Right Religion to give us just the Right Religious Motive (but we are not allowed to Create the Religion ourselves… I suppose we are to wait upon Burning Bushes or some new undebunkable Religious Prophet), but he tells us that Theology is not his area of expertise, and so he won’t even suggest his Best Guesses as to what elements a Working Religion would need – maybe he did not want to offend the Local Church of England Bishop. But, yes, what is left unsaid is that Christianity, because of its practical and proven failure to compellingly and continuously persuade the people, was not the kind of successful Religion we would be looking for. The Right Religion would not be so easy to walk away from. Indeed, he also did not mention that Islam may be closer to the mark, since so many Populations are still actively Muslim, because to look too closely would require suggesting that the most effective ingredient in Islam’s Longevity has been the threats of violent cohesion and political and social duress, though this is no insult against Mohamed who insisted that Islam would be persuasive enough just in its inherent appeal, though Future Muslims hadn’t the faith to put that assertion to the test (and so today much of the World is appalled by the Violence that seems characteristic of Islam, even though it’s Founder had never intended such primacy of force). But, yes, the chapters on Rome and China were fascinating and a short read, so I am glad I took the time to read this awkward little curiosity of a book.

This is a quick read to help you understand the political times we are living in. In a land where Bad is Good, Weakness is good; venerability is good; indecisiveness and delusions are good; but where righteousness, strength, fortitude, decisiveness, competition, and achievement are bad; this book gives a predicted perspective of how empires fall from greatness.

It was a little tough getting through the first part of the book but the second half was worth the wait.

Expertly written. A must read for your library.

Several reviewers before me found the text in this slim volume incomprehensible and/or unreadable due to a style of writing that went out-of-style more than 100 years ago. If you're really interested in English studies and a project it would do mankind a great service to rewrite this book in contemporary English. The outcome may be underwhelming since the author deals so much in truisms that are frankly boring. There's some food for thought there, but to be discovered only though an assiduous, critical reading.

I am only into the earliest part but it promises to be of real interest to me for what that is worth .

Dieses Buch schlägt Parallelen zwischen aktuellen, gesellschaftlichen Entwicklungen und der Antike, höchstgradig interessant.

Great book

I have an original of this book as Arthur John Hubbard was my grandfather (although he died before I was born.) Good to see it reprinted.