History & Sociology
Ibn Khaldun
The First Scientist of Civilisation's Rise and Fall
Where to Start Reading
The Muqaddimah (abridged, trans. Franz Rosenthal)
The founding text of social science — written in 1377. The Princeton abridged edition is the way in. Ibn Khaldun analyses how civilisations form, peak, decay, and collapse in predictable cycles. Dense but extraordinary.
Ibn Khaldun: An Intellectual Biography (Robert Irwin)
The best modern guide to Ibn Khaldun's life and ideas. Irwin places the Muqaddimah in its historical context and makes the arguments accessible to a general reader.
“Throughout history many nations have suffered a physical defeat, but that has never marked the end of a nation. But when a nation has become the victim of a psychological defeat, then that marks the end of a nation.”