Mile High History Book Club

For this meeting, we’ll be discussing 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric H. Cline.

Length: 264 pages | 8h (audiobook)

Book Description

Eric H. Cline's 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed details the sudden downfall of the interconnected Late Bronze Age empires across the Eastern Mediterranean. Rather than attributing this decline to a single catastrophe or invading force, Cline presents a "perfect storm" theory driven by climate change, megadroughts, severe earthquakes, internal rebellions, and disrupted trade routes. By analyzing ancient texts and archaeological evidence, the book demonstrates how early global interdependence turned localized crises into a widespread systemic failure that ushered in a centuries-long dark age.

For this meeting, we'll be discussing Marc Levinson's The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger.

Length: 400 pages | 12 hours (audiobook)

Book Description

In April 1956, a refitted oil tanker carried fifty-eight shipping containers from Newark to Houston. From that modest beginning, container shipping developed into a huge industry that made the boom in global trade possible. "The Box" tells the dramatic story of the container's creation, the decade of struggle before it was widely adopted, and the sweeping economic consequences of the sharp fall in transportation costs that containerization brought about.