"The History of the Rise and Decline of the Roman Empire" by Edward Gibbon is good but daunting. It's split into 12 volumes though. You have to read between the lines but it is a fascinating study of leads to the inevitable collapse of state based societies.
It shows how the social construct of government, the elitists who create plus depend on it and the control mechanisms they employ eventually rot themselves to decay and eventually results in downfall. Rome alone is a terrific example of this.
The book also says religion, Christianity specifically, led to the death of Rome's government to inevitably dying too as religions always do as well as dulling people's ability to think and act properly.
It's in the public domain so it's splattered all over the internet so you'll have no trouble at all getting a copy.
I'll redirect you to a good online edition made possible by Project Gutenberg.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25717/25717-h/25717-h.htm
EDIT: Oh, and if you want any suggestions that are shorter reads if you don't feel up for running the reading gauntlet on something that big.
ANOTHER EDIT: Hopefully my answer should be more acceptable. If not, before anyone does, let me know instead of just voting it down again without explaining.