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An intriguing study of the rise of civilization argues that human development is not based on race or ethnic differences but rather is linked to biological diversity, discussing the evolution of agriculture, technology, writing, political systems, and religious belief. Tour.

A 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.

The author dismantles racially based theories of human history by revealing the environmental factors he feels are responsible for history's broadest patterns

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CONTENTS

Preface to the Paperback Edition = 9

PROLOGUE YALI'S QUESTION : The regionally differing courses of history = 13

PART ONE FROM EDEN TO CAJAMARCA = 33

 CHAPTER 1 UP TO THE STARTING LINE : What happened on all the continents before 11,000 B.C.? = 35

 CHAPTER 2 A NATURAL EXPERIMENT OF HISTORY : How geography molded societies on Polynesian islands = 53

 CHAPTER 3 COLLISION AT CAJAMARCA : Why the Inca emperor Atahuallpa did not capture King Charles Ⅰ of Spain = 67

PART TWO THE RISE AND SPREAD OF FOOD PRODUCTION = 83

 CHAPTER 4 FARMER POWER : The roots of guns, germs, and steel = 85

 CHAPTER 5 HISTORY'S HAVES AND HAVE-NOTES : Geographic differences in the onset of food production = 93

 CHAPTER 6 TO FARM OR NOT TO FARM : Causes of the spread of food production = 104

 CHAPTER 7 HOW TO MAKE AN ALMOND : The unconscious development of ancient crops = 114

 CHAPTER 8 APPLES OR INDIANS : Why did peoples of some regions fail to domesticate plants? = 131

 CHAPTER 9 ZEBRAS, UNHAPPY MARRIAGES, AND THE ANNA KARENINA PRINCIPLE : Why were most big wild mammal species never domesticated? = 157

 CHAPTER 10 SPACIOUS SKIES AND TILTED AXES : Why did food production spread at different rates on different continents? = 176

PART THREE FROM FOOD TO GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL = 193

 CHAPTER 11 LETHAL GIFT OF LIVESTOCK : The evolution of writing = 195

 CHAPTER 12 BLUEPRINTS AND BORROWED LETTERS : The evolution of writing = 215

 CHAPTER 13 NECESSITY'S MOTHER : The evolution of technology = 239

 CHAPTER 14 FROM EGALITARIANISM TO KLEPTOCRACY : The evolution of government and religion = 265

PART FOUR AROUND THE WORLD IN FIVE CHAPTERS = 293

 CHAPTER 15 YALI'S PEOPLE : The histories of Australia and New Guinea = 295

 CHAPTER 16 HOW CHINA BECAME CHINESE : The history of East Asia = 322

 CHAPTER 17 SPEEDBOAT TO POLYNESIA : The history of the Austronesian expansion = 334

 CHAPTER 18 HEMISPHERES COLLIDING : The histories of Eurasia and the Americas compared = 354

 CHAPTER 19 HOW AFRICA BECAME BLACK : The history of Africa = 376

EPILOGUE THE FUTURE OF HUMAN HISTORY AS A SCIENCE = 403

Acknowledgments = 427

Further Readings = 429

Credits = 459

Index = 461