Guns Germs And Steel Summary
Inequality and Environmental Determinism In 1977, UCLA professor and biologist, Jared Diamond, published Guns, Germs, and Steel, sparking debate among fellow anthropologists. Winner of the 1998 Pulitzer Prize, the highly regarded novel and New York Times bestseller is arguably one of the most controversial novels of its genre, for Diamond’s attempt to answer the question - why did human development proceed at such different rates on different continents? - has resulted in critical responses among scientists. Diamond's novel emphasizes the idea of technological advances based upon bio-geographical settings, as opposed to the development of complex societies by social and cultural factors. In a review entitled “History Upside Down,” an exceptional scholar and historian, William H. McNeill, criticizes Diamond’s radical approach in explaining the differences in technological advancements and the role they play in the formation of the modern world. …show more content…
McNeill claims that Diamond’s argument is misguided, in that he has overemphasized the role of physical geography in the growth of societies and lacks discussion of the role of culture and economics in this historical divergence. McNeill criticizes Diamond for dismissing cultural idiosyncrasies, the role of human psychology, and the conscious mind, in his explanation of the varying development in different parts of the world. In his review, McNeill expands on his initial thoughts by stating that he believes, “the propagation of an idea or cluster of ideas can provoke a group of human beings to alter their concepts of reality, and then by acting accordingly make all sorts of changes in their social and physical environments” (McNeill
Summary Of Guns Germs And Steel
466 Words | 2 PagesIn the book, Guns Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond attempts to answer questions of conquest, such as why Eurasia conquered the Americas, and not the other way around. Diamond is a biologist by trade, and both impressed and disappointed the academic world with his new historian side. He believes the answer to western dominance lies in geography and the spread of guns, germs and steel. His theories had led him to be heavily critiqued by historians everywhere, including environmental historian J.R McNeil and Professor of Anthropology and Geography James Blaut. While Diamond provides solid ideas relating to the conquest of the New World, he often uses his scientistic background loosely with unclear supports forgetting other historical factors that
What Is The Final Chapter Of Guns Germs And Steel
1464 Words | 6 PagesThe last part of Diamond’s book “Around the World in Five Chapters” is about how many different cultures became how they are today. For instance the 16th chapter is called “How China Became Chinese”. This section explains why everyone is where they are today, such as the New Guineans being in the position they
Guns, Germs And Steel By Jared Diamond
735 Words | 3 PagesAgriculture played a pivotal role in the evolution of human life, as well as revolutionize the globe to what it is today. Jared Diamond wrote a book that is called "Guns, Germs and Steel". In the book, he explains why some societies are materially successful than others. He attributes societal success to geography, immunity to germs, food production, the domestication of animals, and use of steel. Other parts of the globe, such as Europe While on a trip in New Guinea, one of the politicians named Yali, asked the question, "Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?", which made him write a book about it.
How Did Guns Germs And Steel Change Human Evolution
311 Words | 2 PagesJared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel did not change my thinking of the human evolution because that is how I already felt about history. I believe that everything develops at their own speed because different places have different beliefs and have their own ways of evolving. Since I was born, my grandparents would take me with them to National Parks such as Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, and Crater Lake. Because of my grandparents, I became educated on many things concerning our nation’s history. I understood that some things couldn't happen at the same time as others because of how the land is different in other places. An example of how the United States is different across the country is simply the accents.
Summary Of Guns, Germs And Steel
1230 Words | 5 PagesHe asserts that the development of human societies and cultures has nothing to do with natural selection. For instance, in Chapter four, he analyzes why most big wild mammal species were never domesticated. “In this chapter, he quotes Tolstoy’s great work Anna karenina and thus calls his principle “Anna Karenina Principle” in which Diamond explains a feature of animal domestication that had heavy consequences for human history---that so many seemingly suitable big wild mammal species, such as zebras and peccaries, have never been domesticated and that the successful domesticates were almost exclusively Eurasian”(11-12). Furthermore, he puts forward that the importance of domesticated mammals rests on surprisingly few species of terrestrial herbivores. The reason behind such phenomenon is obvious: aquatic mammals were difficult to maintain and breed until the development of modern sea world facilities.
The World As Polder: What Does It Mean To Us Today, By Jared Diamond
913 Words | 4 PagesJared Diamond is a professor of Geography at UCLA, a Pulitzer Prize winner, and the director of 2 environmental organizations: the World Wildlife Fund and Conservation International. Diamond is also the author 6 books, including “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Succeed or Fail” from which the chapter “The World as Polder: What Does It Mean to Us Today” is taken. In this chapter, Diamond shows us that we have a lot to learn from the ancient civilizations that failed before us. He explains how globalization has increased the risk of national breakdown, how the polder concept can help us minimize the clashing of differing interests and live together as one community, and how he practices cautious optimism when he views the now bleak future.
Part 2 Enduring Issues Questions And Answers
792 Words | 4 PagesGlobal History & Geography Final Exam Part II: Enduring Issues Essay Throughout history, many communities and societies made their own technological advances. Some medical advances, others transportation advances, etc. All still play an important part in the development of human civilizations over time. However, an Enduring Issue that has appeared throughout time is cultural diffusion and technology.
Summary Of Worst Mistake In The History Of The Human Race By Jared Diamond
339 Words | 2 PagesIn the article The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race the author Jared Diamond explains how the development of agriculture in humanity affected the evolution of our modern society for the worst. He proved this thesis with sufficient points, however, the scientific evidence behind the Luddites’ beliefs are limited. The corroboration behind agricultural advancements being a substantial step for mankind is far more concrete than the opposing side. Livestock and cultivating vegetation was the most significant switch humanity has taken, and molded our world to what it is today. Paleopathologists have recorded that the health statuses of people became critically worse after the Neolithic Period, when civilizations switched to
The Old Gun Analysis
1922 Words | 8 PagesIn modern society, guns are seen as a form of control. Those who have guns are able to overpower those who do not. This trend was set when guns were first invented and has stayed the same throughout history. The one place where guns are not a symbol of power and control is in literature, specifically “The Old Gun” and Hamilton. In Mo Yan’s short story “The Old Gun”, the protagonist is a hungry boy who does not even know how to use the titular firearm.
Summary Of The Republic Of Nature By Mark Feiige
1475 Words | 6 PagesFeige's goal is not only to explain how exactly American History is rooted in nature, but also to stress the presence of nature in historical events that is often overlooked or entirely ignored by other historians. Throughout the book, the reader is made clear this is Feige’s primary goal of the text, demonstrating the importance of environmental history of the United States and prove that nature’s role in America’s past is more vast and influential than what is thought. Fiege continuously explains how historical events are sometimes entirely shaped by nature and proves so by exploring the geography, topography, weather, disease spread, and other features occurring in nature and how they
Cultural Differences Between Europeans And Native Americans
891 Words | 4 PagesThe differences in customs, religion, and basic moral and human ideology prevented the Native American and European cultures from sharing the common bond of human fellowship to serve as the basis and foundation for the growth and betterment of human civilization. Unfortunately, this is a trait seen by the human species that have led to the collective downfall of civilizations throughout time, and will repeat itself until the human perspective of its remarkably fortunate place in the universe is dramatically
Analysis Of The Land Ethic By Aldo Leopold
1810 Words | 8 PagesFor Leopold, skill is an integral part of developing a land ethic. He believes having a skill-based relationship with the land leads to the formation of “an ethic, ecologically” because relating to the land in such a way produces a “limitation on freedom of action” (Leopold, 121, 202). Leopold also interprets buffers that prevent humanity from having a direct and skill-based relationship to the environment as “spiritual dangers” because they prevent people from fostering direct connections to their ecological realities (Leopold, 6). Materialist ecofeminism also ascribes to the view that an understanding of ethics only arrives from an understanding of the materials in which people exist. For materialist ecofeminists, ethics arise from materialist relationships through which the development of a spiritual connection with the natural world is possible because of the skills, knowledge, and agency utilized when interacting with nature.
Mayan And Byzantine Similarities
1180 Words | 5 PagesGeography, from Jared Diamond’s view, could be an explanation to such differences and common ground. However, these similarities and differences do not indicate greatness, nor do they indicate the inevitably of collapse. These differences and similarities motivate us to study these amazing cultures today. From the “doomsday” Mayan calendar to massive Byzantine churches, these important civilizations left an unforgettable legacy that fascinates the modern
Julian Steward's Theory Of Culture Change
1190 Words | 5 PagesIn his Theory of Culture Change: The Methodology of Multilinear Evolution 1955, social biology speaks to the "courses in which culture change is incited by adjustment to the environment. A key point is that a specific human adjustment is to a limited extent generally acquired and includes the advances, practices, and information that permit individuals to live in a domain. This implies while the earth impacts the character of human adjustment, it doesn't decide it. Thusly, Steward astutely isolated the notions of the earth from the inward workings of a culture that possessed a given domain. Seen over the long haul, this implies environment and culture are on pretty much separate developmental tracks and that the capacity of one to impact the other is reliant on how each is
Degeneration In H. G. Wells's The Time Machine
1501 Words | 7 PagesRay Lankester’s Degeneration: A Chapter in Darwinism (1880) puts forward the theory of evolutionary degeneration, a theory which H.G. Wells expanded on in his own novel, The Time Machine (1895). Wells’ presentation of mankind’s degeneration, the Eloi, reveals the cultural anxiety of how mankind, having prospered beyond the drive of necessity, could adapt into a more vulnerable state. Many critics have focused on Wells’ overt allegorical warning to humanity not to degenerate into the Eloi, however, I argue there is a much more immediate anxiety that runs throughout the text in the presentation of the Time Traveller himself. The Traveller is an experiment of Lankester’s theory, in that he finds himself ousted from a condition of security. The
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