Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human SocietiesA global account of the rise of civilization that is also a stunning refutation of ideas of human development based on race. Until around 11,000 b.c., all peoples were still Stone Age hunter/gatherers. At that point, a great divide occurred in the rates that human societies evolved. In Eurasia, parts of the Americas, and Africa, farming became the prevailing mode of existence when indigenous wild plants and animals were domesticated by prehistoric planters and herders. As Jared Diamond vividly reveals, the very people who gained a head start in producing food would collide with preliterate cultures, shaping the modern world through conquest, displacement, and genocide. The paths that lead from scattered centers of food to broad bands of settlement had a great deal to do with climate and geography. But how did differences in societies arise? Why weren't native Australians, Americans, or Africans the ones to colonize Europe? Diamond dismantles pernicious racial theories tracing societal differences to biological differences. He assembles convincing evidence linking germs to domestication of animals, germs that Eurasians then spread in epidemic proportions in their voyages of discovery. In its sweep, Guns, Germs and Steel encompasses the rise of agriculture, technology, writing, government, and religion, providing a unifying theory of human history as intriguing as the histories of dinosaurs and glaciers. |
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Seriously what a great take on civilization!
User Review - marsattacks28 - Overstock.comJared Diamond is a luminary. Say what you will about the present day this book offers such a fantastic telling of how we got to where we are now. Told through anthropological evidence and the genius ... Read full review
Excellent!
User Review - b0nnie - Overstock.comGreat book by an excellent author. Purchased as a gift for a friend after seeing the author do a book presentation. My friend loved the book and then read others by Jared Diamond. Read full review
Contents
I | 11 |
II | 33 |
III | 35 |
IV | 53 |
V | 67 |
VI | 83 |
VII | 85 |
VIII | 93 |
XIV | 193 |
XV | 195 |
XVI | 215 |
XVIII | 239 |
XIX | 265 |
XXI | 293 |
XXII | 295 |
XXIII | 322 |
Other editions - View all
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies Jared M. Diamond,Professor of Geography Jared Diamond No preview available - 1999 |
Common terms and phrases
Aboriginal adopted advantage Africa agriculture already Americas ancestors ancient animals appear areas arrival Asia Asian Australia Austronesian bands became become began causes centralized century Chapter chiefdoms chiefs China Chinese climate colonization complex conquest continents crops cultural dates developed diseases domesticated early East eastern Eurasia Europe European evidence evolved example factors farmers Fertile Crescent finally food production genetic germs groups Guinea Hence highlands human hunter-gatherers important independent Indian individuals invention islands Khoisan killed land languages least less linguistic living major mammals miles Native American natural never North numbers organization origins plants Pleistocene political Polynesian population Press problem question reached reason recent regions remained result rise seeds selection similar single societies South Southeast species spread stone thousands tion tribes tropical United University villages West western wild wild plants writing York