Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies - Book Report/Review Example

?Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Thesis ment 4 Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies: A Review 4 Conclusion 8 Work Cited 10 10 Introduction Tracing the developmental history of human civilization and its battle for sustenance through myriad twists and turns of external factors was not so easy. Human civilization and its actual trajectory have always been enigmatic and there are only a few insightful and fact–filled documentations on the hegemony of races and overreaching of one civilization over the other. The book, “Guns, Germs, and Steel : The Fate of Human Societies” is a very reliable book by the scholar author Jared M. Diamond that throws light on the geographical and environmental factors that culminated into the shaping of the modern civilization. The first edition of the book appeared before its readers in the year of 1997. The book was first published by W.W. Norton & Company. The amazingly informative 496 pages of this hardcover edition are written by one of the finest scholars and professor of geography and physiology of the contemporary time. Jared M. Diamond is a veteran professor at the University of California in Los Angeles. Diamond’s age long knowledge upon the facts is associated with the anthropological development of man as a race and its ethnology, matrix through which the races evolved out socially, the history of civilization and the most pertinent geographical factors which guided to shape the evolution of human race as a modern man. These facets compelled the author to enlighten the entire race on the reasons behind the survival of Eurasian civilizations and tracing their potentials which enabled them to conquer over all other races (McGoodwin, “Jared Diamond: Guns Germs and Steel”). The book was very well received amid the academicians and the general readers as well bringing the book Pulitzer Prize in the year 1998 in the category of general non-fiction and the book also received Aventis Prize for Best Science Book. The book became so informative and ignited the suppressed facts pertaining to the ethnology and evolution of human race to the extent that a documentary derived from the book was made by National Geographic Channel and was telecasted in PBS in the year 2005 in the month of July. Thesis Statement This essay intends to review critically the book, “Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies” and to present the perception yielded by the author Jared M. Diamond through the informative and innovative book focusing on the evolution of Human race and civilization. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies: A Review Before delineating into the detailed subject content of the book, it is quintessential to jot down the crux content the author wants to fabricate through this highly informative documentation on the history of human hegemony. The book, “Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Civilization” endeavors on the explanation for the reason of Eurasian civilizations’ conquering capacity on the other civilizations. In the pantheon of Eurasian civilizations, Diamond also included North Africa. Diamond in his pedantic book actually set forth an argument which is based on the assumptions that the hegemony of Eurasians has so well been established across the globe owing to its superiority pertaining to the intellectual capability, moral values and genetic superiority which are so inherent and poignant factors according to Jared M. Diamond among the others. The argument in the book, “Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies” based on the fact that the gap between the implementation of the power and technology evolved from the differences in environment. These environmental factors according to the author are again intensified by myriad loops that seem positive in nature. On the one hand, many cultural and genetic differences that were in favor of the Eurasian civilizations have been asserted in the book. Similarly, on the other hand, the factors which enabled the superiority of Eurasian civilizations have been argued meticulously by the author as the outcome of geographical influences on these societies and cultures and not for the reasons of inherent genomes in the Eurasian races. Well reception of a book and specially, the informative one depends greatly on the anatomy of the book. The systematic and coherent presentation of the facts under broad heads can only lead to the bafflement of the comprehension while navigating through the books which ponder on the heavy researches and long-drawn facts. The book, “Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies” is presented in a very systematic way with a Prologue entitled, ‘Yali’s Question: The regionally differing courses of history’ and ending with an Epilogue, titled ‘The Future of Human History as a Science’. The book is segregated into four parts. There are nineteen chapters divided among these four parts within the book. The Prologue or the introduction of the book renders a dramatic quality to the entire book. Like a prologue sets the stage for the entire forth-coming plot of a fiction, here Yali a New Guinean politician’s conversation and inquisition regarding the reason for the inventions along with manufactured goods coined in the local terminology of Yali as “cargo” over his land. He also focuses on the questions as to why the natives are so much lagging behind in manufacturing of “cargo” and the Europeans, contrarily, are able to bring so much of “cargo” to their land. This question by Yali necessitates Diamond to apply the thesis to every aspect of life and to set forward the multiple reasons for such improper distribution of power and knowledge across the ethnic groups round the world in the following chapters. Part one of the books bears the title, ‘From Eden to Cajamarca’ and contains the first three chapters of the book. Chapter one of the book titles, ‘Up To: What happened on all the continents before 11,000BC’. The chapter focuses on the evolution of human beings as a race starting from the moment he became upright to the events that occurred till the 11,000 BC which corresponds to ceasing of the Pleistocene Era followed by the recession of the last quarters of Ice Age and resulting into the beginning of the Recent Era throwing a comprehensive light on the phenomena that occurred in the mass extinction during this phase. Chapter two of the book bears the title, ‘ A Natural Experiment Of History : How geography molded societies on Polynesian islands’ focuses on the facts on the climatic aspect of Polynesia and different geographical and societal factors that led to the moderation in diversity of human population and adaptations. The chapter also includes a running commentary on the overrunning of the Maoris over the Morioris in the Chatham Islands during 1835. Chapter three bears the title, ‘Collisions at Cajamarca: Why the Inca emperor Atahuallpa did not capture King Charles I of Spain’. This is the chapter that actually is a microcosmic depiction of the title and content of the entire book. The chapter focuses on the events at Cajamarca, Peru and the battle of 1532 along with the reason for the devastating defeat of the Inca king, which was for the superior use of steel weapons, amours, horses and scathing attack of the epidemic disease like small pox devastated the age old civilization of Inca valley. Part two of the book bears the title, ‘The Rise and Spread of Food Production’ and chapter four to ten are captivated within the second part of the book. Chapter four bears the title, ‘Farmer Power: The roots of guns, germs, and steel’. The chapter focuses on the development of ‘food production’, a term that enabled the author to indicate domestication of plants and animals and development associated with it throughout the book. Chapter five bears the title, ‘History’s Haves and Have-nots: Geographic differences in the onset of food production’. The chapter throws light on the calibrated C14 dating which co-relates with three rings and by the implementation of these dating; the prominent independent sites of food production along with their domestications which were imported from time to time have been explicitly mentioned in the brackets. Chapter six entitles, ‘ To Farm or Not to Farm: Causes of the spread of food production’, discusses the gradual development of the hunter-gatherers into the settled farmers with domesticated animals and crop-yielding farm land have been discussed thoroughly in the chapter along with various socio-geographical factors that hampered and amplified the transition. Chapter seven discusses the way plants were selected on the basis of edibility and how they were cultivated and domesticated, conversely some plants which were located as edible plants were never domesticated as well like Acorn. Chapter eight deals with ascend of food production in the regions termed as Fertile Crescent and the factors that supported and aided the growth of food production in these areas. Chapter nine bears a very extra-ordinary title, paradoxical to the content of the book. It runs, ‘Zebras, Unhappy Marriages and The Anna Karenina Principle: Why was most big wild mammal species never domesticated’. From the sub-title of the chapter itself it focuses on the fact that the chapter shall discuss on the ways large animals were domesticated and by 2500 BC all the animals those showed the possibility of domestication were already housed. This way of selecting the animals for domestication and the way by which most of them were domesticated is been co-related with the theory of happy families in Anna Karenina. Chapter ten discusses the reason for the uneven distribution of food production across the continents. Part three of the book bears the title, ‘From Food to Guns, Germs, and Steel’. Chapter eleven to fourteen are housed in this section of the book which mainly focuses on the raring of livestock and endemic diseases shared by them or contaminated through animal stock, the invention and use of writing, and the evolution of first civic society and establishment of regulated bodies like government and religion. Part four or the last segment of the book, bears the title, ‘Around the World in Five Chapters’, and chapters fifteen to nineteen are captivated within this segment of the book. The segment of the book focuses on the history of Australia and New Guinea, history of East Asia, history of the Austronesian expansion, a comparative study of the histories of Eurasia and the Americas and the history of Africa. As interesting is the Prologue of the book, the Epilogue also bears a unique and interesting title and content like the prologue of the book. The Epilogue of the book is titled, ‘The Future of Human History as a Science’. The epilogue answers the questions asked by Yali in the prologue of the book and a thorough navigation through the chapters included in the book answers the question by Yali rightfully where the geographical and environmental factors that facilitated Europeans to get strength as a race from time to time, have been well established. The book also captivates an enriched acknowledgement, index and worthy suggestion of further readings which make it complete. Conclusion The book, “Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Society” is a very educative book. It throws light on the comprehensive history of evolution of continents and great civilization. Man as a primitive being has set forth a long journey of struggle to establish himself as a modern man and the documentations inscribed within the premise of the insightful book by a learned author makes the logical culmination of the evolution of man and his battle for the establishment of civic society appears clearly before one’s mind. Though the book has incorporated many technical terms yet the explanation of those terms and jargons of ethnology has been so precise and clear that any layman can be equally benefited from the book in a similar fashion a scholar can. The book, “Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Society” By Jared M. Diamond is a masterpiece and universal in its approach. Work Cited McGoodwin, Michael. Jared Diamond: Guns Germs and Steel. Science and Math, 2011. Web. 20 Apr. 2013. Read More