Christopher Star Publishes 2026 Book on 4 Ancient Views of the World's End

1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Oct 22

Princeton University Press has released Christopher Star’s 2026 book, “How to Face the End of the World,” collecting Greek and Roman texts on catastrophe with original-language passages, translations and commentary.
Star argues those writers framed apocalypse as a natural process rather than divine punishment, using philosophy to teach readers how to face even world-ending scenarios without fear.
The book centers on 4 major strands: Hesiod’s warning of Zeus destroying the iron race, Plato’s cyclical civilizational collapse, Epicurean and Lucretian material destruction, and Stoic cosmic conflagration and renewal.
A 2022 Pew survey found 39% of Americans believe they are living in the end times, a modern anxiety Star links to much older traditions of imagining catastrophe to build psychological resilience.

Sources

Can ancient doomsday stories actually save us from modern panic, or do they just mask our inevitable collapse?

Why did ancient philosophers believe that visualizing the end of the world was the ultimate secret to finding inner peace?

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