Altered states -- Seeking more, finding less -- The "Chindia" challenge -- An energy juggernaught -- Draining the Caspian -- The global assault on Africa's vital resources -- Encroaching on an "American Lake" -- Crossing a threshold -- Averting catastrophe

Introduction / Jonathan Friedman and Christopher Chase-Dunn -- Escaping a closed universe : world-system crisis, regional dynamics and the rise of Aegean palatial society / Johnny Persson -- The final collapse of the Mediterranean-Egyptian Near Eastern bronze age as a global systemic phenomenon...