Collapse by J. Diamond

Jared Diamond (Guns, germs and steels) describes how societies collapsed under or survived through various problems, including ecological ones. He tells the story of past societies: Easter Island and its fascinating statues, the Anasazi of the southwestern U.S., the Maya, the Vikings in America, Greenland and Iceland, New Guinea and Japan. He also considers modern societies, telling the story of modern Montana, describing an ecological background to Rwanda's genocide, the twin histories of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the mounting ecological problems of China and the exhaustion of Australia.

The whole thing is very interesting and well-told.

On the other hand, I was much disappointed by the last part "Practical lessons" which I found utterly unconvincing as the author, after having piled up all the reasons why the current affluence of the First World is unstainable and completely out of reach of the rest of Humankind, ends up full of optimism. I must have missed something...