Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
Why did Europeans come to dominate the New World? Why the other regions and countries failed to dominate the New World. In this book, the well-known biologist Jared Diamond tries to help us to answer this question.
Before Jared Diamond, this question has been answered by other historians, anthropologists, sociologists. However, nobody could offer us a convincing answer. In this book, one of the most important argument Diamond proposes is that Europe's geography is the cause ("geographical determinism") behind this phenomenon.
Jared Diamond proves that the Eurasian land mass had by far the best biological resources, with which it could develop agricultural societies, as well as special climate, political organizations, social entities and so on.
To support this idea, Diamond introduces various plants and animals which he has collected during his field research. He thinks they are very necessary to support a farming society rather than a hunting society. Examining the biological resources available to potential farmers around the world, he thinks the people of Eurasia had access to a suite of plants and animals rather than other nations in the world.
In my opinion, the importance of this book lies in Diamond's thesis is very originative rather than simply speculative. But to my great surprise, Diamond falls into repeating ideas on the formation of large-scale societies.
Jared Diamond on the PBS
Overall, his ideas in this book are very compelling, although I could not completely accept his points of view. Anyone who wants to know the world history, I think, this book is very helpful for you to take a look at .
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