Imagine standing on the edge of a cliff and realizing that a fatal fall is inevitable. This is what happens in the rise and disappearance of sovereign states. They are not immortal. Throughout history, countries and empires have emerged only to vanish. Two books, The Life and Death of States, by Natasha Wheatley, and How States Die, by Douglas Lemke, explore the phenomenon of states’ death – why Rhodesia, Catalonia, and other sovereign entities have fallen off the map. The question is, where are we as grist in the giant wheel of historical change? Frances Snyder presents.
