The Ephemeral Civilization is an astonishing intellectual feat in which Graeme Snooks develops an original and ground-breaking analysis of changing sociopolitical forms over the past 3,000 years. Snooks challenges the prevailing theories of social evolutionism with an innovative approach which also looks ahead to the twenty-first century. The Ephemeral Civilization builds on the model of dynamic strategy outlined in the author's highly acclaimed companion volume, The Dynamic Society. The Ephemeral Society is divided into three parts - theory, history and future.

Graeme Snooks has set himself the ambitious and original task of exploring the driving force of global change over the past 2 million years. The book outlines and explains the biological development of life, going on to develop a fully dynamic model, not just of genetic change, but of the broader process of life on earth. Snooks also provides a critical review of current interpretations about the course of history and the forces driving it. Finally, he develops an entirely new interpretation of the dynamics of human society, arguing that the rise and fall of societies is an outcome of the development and exhaustion of these strategies.
This dynamic strategy model is employed to discuss likely future outcomes for society. Controversially, Snooks argues that far from leading to ecological destruction, growth--including technological change--is both natural and necessary. "The Dynamic Society" demonstrates that dynamism, not stasis, is the essential condition of human society, as it is of life.

In this book Graeme Snooks has set himself the highly ambitious task of exploring the driving force of global change over the past 2 million years. The author also employs his dynamic strategy model to discuss future outcomes for human society, controversially arguing that far from leading to ecological destruction, growth-inducing technological change is both necessary and liberating. Ultimately, the book demonstrates that dynamism, not stasis, is the essential condition of human society, as it is of life.

Neo-classical economics is frequently criticised for paying inadequate attention to historical processes. However, it has proved easier to make broad claims that history matters' than to theorise with any depth about the appropriate role for history in economic analysis.
Historical Analysis in Economics considers what history can contribute to the science of economics: how would it matter if history mattered?'

This is an original and controversial reflection on the course of human history and a remarkable attempt to develop a scientific model of laws for the social sciences. It:
* considers the nature of laws and the reasons we might expect to find them in history
* employs an underlying framework concerning societal dynamics, historical change, and institutional change, which are in fact the laws of history.
This volume consolidates the author's previous research in The Dynamic Society and The Ephemeral Civilization.

The Ephemeral Civilization is an astonishing intellectual feat in which Graeme Snooks develops an original and ground-breaking analysis of changing sociopolitical forms over the past 3,000 years. Snooks challenges the prevailing theories of social evolutionism with an innovative approach which also looks ahead to the twenty-first century. The Ephemeral Civilization builds on the model of dynamic strategy outlined in the author's highly acclaimed companion volume, The Dynamic Society. The Ephemeral Society is divided into three parts - theory, history and future.

The quest for the laws underlying the history of human societies has occupied some of the greatest thinkers in history, from Heraclitus and Plato to Marx and J.S. Mill. And yet today historicism is widely considered to be intellectually discredited. In this unorthodox and trail-blazing work Graeme Snooks argues that it is possible to construct a scientific theory of human nature. On the basis of this paradigm shift the author lays bare the forces driving human society from its earlier beginnings to its present stage of evolution. The text is divided into two parts that combine methodological, sociological and historical reflection. Part I considers the nature of laws, the reasons we might expect to find them at work in history, and why their formulation escaped the great historicists of the past. Part II employs a novel inductive framework to draw out the general propositions underlying the different forms of human society. These general propositions concerning societal dynamics, historical change and institutional, are the laws of history.

The Industrial Revolution is one of the most enduring and studied areas of economic history. This text takes an innovative look at this much discussed subject in order to stimulate interest and elicit new responses. It studies: the way the classical economists viewed natural resources as a constraint on rapid and sustained growth; how the Industrial Revolution might have appeared when looking forwards from the Middle Ages rather than the usual retrospective view; what can be expected from growth rate calculations that have a substantially subjective basis; what contribution can be made to the living standard debated from an understanding of income distribution within the family; and what has been gained from these new explorations.

Was the Industrial Revolution Necessary? takes an innovative look at this much studied subject. The contributors ask new questions, explore new issues and use new data in order to stimulate interest and elicit new responses. By looking at it from such previously unexplored angles the book brings a new understanding to the Industrial Revolution and opens a new debate.

Neo-classical economics is frequently criticized for paying inadequate attention to historical processes. However, it has proved easier to make broad claims that "history matters" than to theorize with any depth about the appropriate role for history in economic analysis. "Historical Analysis in Economics" considers what history can contribute to the science of economics: how would it matter if "history mattered?";Leading economic historians consider both the general aspects of this question and specific examples where long run changes have clearly impacted on the economic landscape, including issues related to employment and retirement and changing attitudes to business culture.