The BRONZE AGE COLLAPSE | 1177 BC by Eric Cline

The book 1177 BCE: The Year Civilization Collapsed has been revised and updated. David Miano give you his thoughts about the book, an overview of the contents, and whether it is worth reading.

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[lastofmygeneration]

Eric Cline's lecture on the Bronze Age collapse is amazing and free to watch on YouTube. I highly recommend it as it lends itself to multiple watches. It is so enlightening that it is unreal. All those people who are thirsting for a lost Advanced civilization should be focusing on the Bronze Age collapse, because that's exactly what it was.

[AtunSheiFilms]

I'm always surprised when I reach the end of academic history books because the endnotes always take up such a huge stack of paper

[StraggleOn]

I read 1177 B.C. earlier this year. It is the first book I've read on the bronze age collapse. I totally enjoyed it! One thing I enjoyed was how vividly Cline sets the scene of the bronze age just prior to the collapse by showing various interactions between the peoples at that time. It was also fasinating to read about the "perfect storm" of events contributing to the collapse, especially the mysterious sea peoples. I've always been intrigued by this age now I actually know something about it. 1177 B.C. THE YEAR CIVILIZATION COLLAPSED is a great book.

[alanderson]

After hearing his lecture on this a few years ago Cline’s engaging style makes you want to dig deeper and learn more. When you read about his accomplishments and academic recognition such as being named a Getty Scholar for the 2000-21. Multifaceted author and fun lecturer.

[TrevorsMailbox]

Cline, Finkel, Yourself...all of you are treasures. I can't tell you how much I thoroughly enjoy your content. Thank you for what you do.

[JulienCohenMusic]

Éric cline explained that the title was chosen by the editor, in order to make it more attractive.

[WmJared]

His publisher said a single year was what made books sell/the title "pop" when he tried to present a more decline vs collapse title, as I recall. Also Cline's own studies on the specific year (in our terms) has it changing every so often within a small window, and he says certain years are equally as likely to be good for the title as this one. His NPR and other interviews (like here on Youtube, I think he's in a Study of Antiquities and Middle Ages video) are generally quite engaging, much like your own stuff. It's always fun to listen to someone like y'all who really deeply enjoy these time periods and fights to have mainstream recognition of their humanity and lived experiences, as well as uncover the depths and mysteries they have left us or time has covered up.

[timothybruce]

Yes. I know this book. I've read it. I've even met Dr. Cline. A pal of mine did his graduate studies under Dr. Cline. Good stuff. I especially like how the book progresses through all the different theories and knocks them all down. Ultimately he has the right arguments for the right theory.
Interesting tid-bit! He had it all finished and then, at quite literally the very last minute, he had to call the printers and shout "STOP THE PRESSES!" because a new paper appeared in the journals which pretty much invalidated much of his thesis. Fortunately the presses were stopped, he was able to re-write the last half of the book, and things are all better!
I highly recommend it.

[saladyn]

I've read it like a month ago and I was astonished by the amount of information Cline managed to pack into a fairly thin (around 200 pages without bibliography in Polish edition) book.
It was not the first time I've heard about the Bronze Age Collapse, but despite of me having higher education in history (my Ancient History course was a joke, reduced mostly to some Mesopotamia and Egypt and much more of Greece and Rome) I didn't know that much. I started watching some videos on the subject and one of them referenced Cline's lecture. I watched it and instantly got his book. After reading, I really wish school education covered at least some of the Bronze Age Collapse. I mean, come on, great and prosperous civilisations falling (seemingly) mysteriously one after another? Kids love mysteries and I'm sure they'd get hooked on that easily. I am certainly going to tell my students something about that next year.

[ReinholdOtto]

I was delighted to hear a couple of months ago that Cline is working on a second, enhanced edition, and a "sequel", describing the "dark centuries" that followed the collapse. I wish him (and myself) success with his work on those projects.

[kgrafs]

This book was the first real exposure I had to anything Bronze Age related. I enjoyed it so much that it inspired me take multiple classes on Bronze Age cultures at college. For that reason this book will always hold a special place in my heart, glad you enjoyed it too!

[laurahill]

1177 is one of my favorite nonfiction books. I didn't know the revised edition had been published! Now I need to get it.

[Dhampy]

I'm not a historian of the ancient world. My grad work was in early US and early Soviet military history, and I work in local history in the US. So it's not my specialty. But it was a page turner for me. I think I read it in one insomniac night. And I've re-read it at least one other time, based on the color of the ink in my margin notes.

[lafther]

Ive enjoyed the book as much as I’ve enjoyed watching his lectures about it. I find the collapse fascinating and look forward to his much awaited sequel.

[stig]

I listened to the author discuss this book. I liked what he said.

[sfjarhead]

I've seen a few of his YouTube lectures, might check the book too.
Thx!

[gdlonborg]

You healed my jaded heart by giving an endorsement. These days, it's all criticism wherever we go. Good to know that you (whom I respect) can point to a modern source of scholarship with an honest thumbs up. Thank you sir.

[redkiwi]

I loved this book. I am a recent convert to ancient history and I found this book was a great general purpose introduction to a fascinating period of history.

[gustavderkits]

I own the book, have read it several times, and also viewed the talks Prof. Cline gave on the topic on YouTube. I agree that he tries hard to make it relevant to modern times, but I don’t think that is too forced. I work on the reliability of complex systems and have experience with chain failure in systems with many parts and degrees of freedom, especially those with embedded Turing machines or human beings. To me it is not too far-fetched to make analogies between the collapses of civilizations and events such as the great Amazon Web Services crash in 2011. This field is new and analogies are fruitful.

[steveb]

I recall an interview where he said he was very hesitant to use the year in the title. I can't remember his exact reason but it may have been publisher pressure.