The Fate of Empires analyzes many of the commonly held traits of the world’s historic empires and demonstrates how the presence or absence of these can determine the outcome of these societies. The author isolates two main forces operating in advanced civilizations: the urge to reproduce as well as competition among members of society. At times, one or the other may prevail under various circumstances, with a balance between these stresses being sought. Because this societal stress is evolutionary in nature, reflex, instinct, reason, and religious motive have flowed in that order from this development. Where it gets interesting is when reason overrules instinct and religious motive overrules reason. What emerges from this is a stress triangle composed of the individual, his tribe/ethnicity, and the larger society. The consequences of this stress can be disastrous for people living in these societies. Part one of this book examines the philosophy developed by Hubbard, while in the second part of the book he applies this philosophy to Ancient Greece and Rome, as well as to the Chinese Empire of his own day.

Arthur John Hubbard published his short masterpiece a few years before World War I, well before Oswald Spengler’s “Decline of the West”. Although some of the terminology used seems somewhat antiquated nowadays, the work still resonates in modern times. The listener is cautioned not to interpret Hubbard’s use of the word “race” as it is understood today. “Race” had a looser definition in Hubbard’s time, being used in phrases such as “the French race” or “the English race.” As incorporated in this book, a better definition would probably be “ethnicity” or even “tribe.”

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