Amitav Ghosh and Luke Kemp on learning from collapsed empires

From the fall of Rome to the climate crisis unfolding right now, history shows up a common pattern for how empires rise and fall. And two important factors are humans’ relationship with the natural world, as well as the unequal distribution of power and wealth. What can the wreckage of past civilisations teach us about avoiding our own?

This event was recorded live at the 2026 Sydney Writers’ Festival at Carriageworks.

Listen to Big Ideas – Why civilisations vanish

Speakers

Amitav Ghosh

Indian-born novelist, essayist, and public intellectual

Author of The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis and Wild Fictions

Luke Kemp

Research Affiliate, Centre for the Study of Existential Ris, University of Cambridge

Author of Goliath’s Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse

Clare Wright (host)

Professor of History and Professor of Public Engagement, La Trobe University and award-winning author