After 1177 B.C. tells how the collapse of powerful Late Bronze Age civilizations created new circumstances to which people and societies had to adapt. Those that failed to adjust disappeared from the world stage, while others transformed themselves, resulting in a new world order that included Phoenicians, Philistines, Israelites, Neo-Hittites, Neo-Assyrians, and Neo-Babylonians. Taking the story up to the resurgence of Greece marked by the first Olympic Games in 776 B.C., the book also describes how world-changing innovations such as the use of iron and the alphabet emerged amid the chaos.

The year of the hyenas, when men starved --Conqueror of all lands, avenger of Assyria -- The Mediterranean became a Phoenician lake -- King of the land of Carchemish -- In the shadow of the ruined palaces -- From collapse to resilience.