The Muqaddimah

Why it’s on the list: Ibn Khaldun’s fourteenth-century prologue to universal history — asabiyyah, the dynastic cycle, and the argument that civilisations rise and decay on the solidarity of the groups that build them. Frequently called the first work of sociology.

Where I heard about it

• A crowd-sourced X thread — in the replies to @SpencrGreenberg asking “What non-fiction book taught you the most about how the world (or how humanity or society) really works?” (the thread, June 2025); the full set of replies is on A question for you — What non-fiction… (tweet).

Connections

• History — The discipline Ibn Khaldun was trying to put on a footing.
• Institutions — The rise-and-decay cycle he models.
• Culture — Asabiyyah — group solidarity — is the book’s central term.
• A question for you — What non-fiction… (tweet) — the thread this recommendation came from.