A comprehensive and perceptive look at the factors behind the rise and fall of civilizations. Quigley defines a civilization as a producing society with an instrument of expansion. A civilization's decline is not inevitable but occurs when its instrument of expansion is transformed into an institution-that is, when social arrangements that meet real social needs are transformed into social institutions serving their own purposes regardless of real social needs.
A comprehensive and perceptive look at the factors behind the rise and fall of civilizations. Quigley defines a civilization as a producing society wi...