Goliath’s Curse

The History and Future of Societal Collapse

By: Luke Kemp

Brought to you by Penguin.

A new history of humanity told through the lens of collapse, from Neanderthals to AI, and what it means for our uncertain future

For the first 200,000 years, humanity lived in egalitarian groups and successfully thwarted any individual from ruling permanently. Our ancestors avoided a dominance hierarchy. Then, around 12,000 years ago, that began to change.

People became increasingly dependent on resources such as grain and fish, and the world got smaller. Human beings didn’t just pick up the plough but also the sword, and if the landscape was caged, small groups began to seize control of these resources. We began to slowly, hesitantly organise ourselves into dominance hierarchies. As inequalities and hierarchies rose, so too did war. The authoritarian impulse was triggered in neighbours who now had a model to emulate, as empires rose and soared across the world. It was the combination of rampant inequality, extractive institutions, corruption and over-expansion that brought these ‘Goliaths’ down: from Ancient Rome to the British Empire.

Now we live in a global Goliath, full of growth-focused, extractive institutions like the fossil fuel industry, big tech, and military-industrial complexes. The global Goliath has incentivised the creation of ever faster and more interconnected systems, all of which exacerbate the severity of our fall. Whether you are worried about climate change, nuclear weapons, or over-extended, just-in-time supply chains, the answer is the same: we must learn to democratically control Goliath, or we might face a final collapse.

'A brilliant and insightful book' Eric Cline, author of 1177 B.C.

'This is the book on societal collapse that I had always hoped someone would write’ Walter Scheidel, author of The Great Leveler

©2025 Luke Kemp (P)2025 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

'A profound and mind-expanding book that challenges the existing narratives of societal collapse. Through a long-term lens, Kemp asks us to reconsider histories we thought we knew, a present we take for granted, and future perils we have yet to meet. This is a chillingly enlightening read, which will reorient your understanding of the world and how it came to be' (Richard Fisher, author of The Long View)