Project Gutenberg 2014-02-14 Public domain in the USA. 765 Adams, Brooks 1848 1927 The Law of Civilization and Decay: An Essay on History Produced by Sean (scribe_for_hire@yahoo.com), based on page images generously made available by the Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/lawofcivilizatio00adam). "The Law of Civilization and Decay: An Essay on History" by Brooks Adams is a historical account written in the late 19th century. In this work, Adams examines the cycles of civilization, particularly the evolution and eventual decay of societies, arguing for a systematic understanding of history that ties human behavior to economic and social forces. The central thesis suggests that civilizations rise and fall based on their ability to manage the interplay between martial and economic energies, reflecting on the consequences that result when societies become overly centralized. The opening of the text establishes the author’s intent and philosophical framework, emphasizing a non-biased, observational approach to history. Adams posits that the essence of societal development can be discerned through the relationship between various social phenomena, such as economics, religion, and military structure. He introduces key concepts explored throughout the essay, including the roles of fear and greed in shaping social movements, and suggests that as societies centralize, they inevitably face disintegration due to the accumulation of power in the hands of wealthy elites. By tracing historical examples, especially the decline of the Roman Empire, he indicates how economic dynamics eroded the vitality of civilizations, ultimately leading to their decay and the rise of new social orders. (This is an automatically generated summary.) file:///public/vhost/g/gutenberg/html/files/44908/44908-h/images/cover.jpg en History -- Philosophy Civilization -- History Degeneration D Text Browsing: Culture/Civilization/Society Browsing: History - General Browsing: Philosophy & Ethics 864046 864055 2024-09-18T19:08:41.319501 2023-09-19T14:21:57.344550 text/html text/html 826799 2014-02-17T22:54:26 text/html; charset=utf-8 314510 2014-02-19T22:33:32 text/html; charset=utf-8 application/zip 338846 2024-09-18T19:08:54.000430 application/epub+zip 351204 2024-09-18T19:08:43.113475 application/epub+zip 351204 2024-09-18T19:08:42.176481 application/epub+zip 600671 2024-09-18T19:09:01.427394 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 519709 2024-09-18T19:08:52.952474 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 519829 2022-09-20T13:46:06.905850 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 700401 2024-09-18T19:08:39.349670 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 703183 2014-02-15T20:04:20 text/plain; charset=utf-8 267757 2014-02-19T22:33:32 text/plain; charset=utf-8 application/zip 699856 2014-02-15T20:04:58 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 266990 2014-02-19T22:33:32 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 699923 2014-02-15T20:04:58 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 266806 2014-02-19T22:33:32 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 22149 2024-09-18T19:09:01.577367 application/rdf+xml 8535 2024-09-18T19:08:42.353463 image/jpeg 1870 2024-09-18T19:08:42.265476 image/jpeg 327119 2024-09-18T19:08:41.386501 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia