The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers
The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedyby Paul M. Kennedy
Shares rank 49 of 51 history books by recommenders
People call it the classic book on this topic and a good treatise on why great powers rise and decline.
People call it the classic book on this topic and a good treatise on why great powers rise and decline.
2 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 2
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 2 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Seen as the classic on this topic
“The classic book on this topic is”
Comment from 3 Jun 2026 in “The American Missile Crisis” Good treatise on great power decline
“For a good treatise on this, read Paul Kennedy's Rise and Fall of the Great Powers”
Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “Thomas Piketty: 'The reality is the US is losing control of the world'”
Other history books people recommend
The four most recommended other history books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Dawn of Everythingby David Graeber and David Wengrow | 23 | 5 | 82% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Cadillac Desertby Marc Reisner | 18 | 0 | 100% | 11 | — | Approved |
| The Boxby Marc Levinson | 16 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Sapiensby Yuval Noah Harari | 13 | 9 | 59% | 8 | — | — |
| The Rise and Fall of the Great Powersby Paul M. KennedyThis page | 2 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
All 2 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The classic book on this topic is”
“For a good treatise on this, read Paul Kennedy's Rise and Fall of the Great Powers”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.