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Fall of Civilizations (podcast)
History podcast From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Fall of Civilizations is a history podcast produced by historian and novelist Paul Cooper. The show narrates the collapse of various societies throughout history, with a focus on the causes of the collapse and the experience of those who lived through times of upheaval.
 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. (August 2025) |
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Reception
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Fall of Civilizations has received widespread acclaim. James Marriott in The Sunday Times called the podcast "A treasure trove of myths and terror… Fall of Civilizations is richly researched and full of passionate, dramatic reconstructions of the last words left to us by doomed peoples".[1] The Sunday Post wrote "The podcast is at times deeply touching as Cooper gives a human face to stories that through millennia have been boiled down to facts and dates, and we hear the voices of people who lived long ago from the letters, stories and poems that they left behind. A must-listen for history lovers everywhere."[2] Armando Iannucci wrote in The Guardian that "This is the podcast that’s been fascinating me. It’s really well made and the host, Paul Cooper, has a very mellifluous voice. There’s something wistful about them, because they’re about how once-great civilisations declined."[3] Oscar Rickett wrote in The Guardian that "The listener is… transported – if only for a while – from the 21st century, with its crises of economics, climate and Covid, to the time of the Aztecs, the Sumerians or the Vikings. History – perhaps particularly the history of the ancient world – provides an escape from our own times."[4]
In February 2025, Newsweek reported that Fall of Civilizations had ranked above Joe Rogan's podcast The Joe Rogan Experience to come in second place in the Spotify podcast charts.[5]
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Influence on Elon Musk
Elon Musk has named the Fall of Civilizations Podcast as one of his influences. In a discussion with Michael Milken at the May 2024 Milken Institute Conference, the SpaceX founder and Tesla chief executive said "I listen to podcasts about the fall of civilizations to go to sleep… There’s actually a podcast called Fall of Civilizations which I've listened to a few times… so that that's probably why I'm ruminating on these things as I go to sleep."[6] Fall of Civilizations has been described by The Independent as Elon Musk’s "favourite podcast".[7]
In June 2023, Cooper declined Musk's offer to publish the podcast on Twitter, citing concerns with the platform's policies under Musk.[8]
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Book
In May 2024, a book based on the podcast, Fall of Civilizations: Stories of Greatness and Decline was released by Duckworth Books. The book was named a Blackwell's Book of the Month for April 2025, and the paperback reached number 6 on The Sunday Times Bestseller list in 2025.[9] The book was reviewed by historian Max Hastings, who wrote: "Cooper is a phenomenon. His podcast Fall of Civilizations has garnered more than 100 million downloads since its launch in 2019... Cooper addresses a new public in new ways, through a mastery of anecdotage and accessible storytelling."[10]
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