The End Is Always Near

In his first book, the creator of the award-winning podcast Hardcore History looks to some of humanity's most apocalyptic moments to understand the challenges of our future.

Do tough times create tougher people? Can humanity handle the power of its weapons without destroying itself? Will human technology or capabilities ever peak or regress? Why, since the dawn of time, has it always seemed as though death and destruction is waiting just around the corner?

In The End is Always Near, Dan Carlin connects the past and future in fascinating and colourful ways, exploring a question that has hung over humanity like the Sword of Damocles from the collapse of the Bronze Age to the nuclear era - that of human survival.

Combining his trademark mix of storytelling, history, and thought experiments, Carlin forces us to consider what sounds like fantasy: that we might suffer the same fate as all previous civilisations. Will our world ever become a ruin for future archaeologists to dig up and explore?

This thrillingly expansive and entertaining book will make you look at the past - and future - in a completely different way.

'A master of storytelling, Dan Carlin uses vivid detail and intuitive empathy to imagine what it was like to live through the end of the world. He takes us on a sometimes terrifying journey through the past that offers a glimpse of our possible future. Carlin's engaging and accessible style invites us to ponder the rise and fall of civilizations and ask where we may be headed. The end of the world is not merely a catastrophe that waits for us down the road; it is a ghost that haunts the places we've already been' Mike Duncan, author of The Storm Before the Storm

'This is the perfect thought experiment for anyone who believes the world is doomed, if only to remind them of one essential reality: the world has always, always seemed doomed. But it's also a great compendium for everyone else, mostly due to Dan Carlin's supernatural skill as an animator of history. It feels odd to classify a book about barbarians and flu pandemics and the morality of nuclear war as fun, but that's the single best modifier for The End is Always Near. It's an apocalyptic discotheque' Chuck Klosterman, author of But What If We're Wrong?

Pioneering podcaster and broadcast journalist Dan Carlin is the king of long-form audio content. With his Hardcore History episodes sometimes topping out at over six hours each, and using nothing but his voice, he entertains millions. The show was named the Best Classic Podcast in iTunes' Best of 2014 awards, Best Educational Podcast of 2015 from the Podcast Awards and the Best History podcast of 2018 by the iHeartRadio Podcast Awards. He lives in Eugene, Oregon.

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