Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

The Author Dismantles Racially Based Theories Of Human History By Revealing The Environmental Factors He Feels Are Responsible For History's Broadest Patterns. Yali's Question: The Regionally Differing Courses Of History -- From Eden To Cajamarca. Up To The Starting Line: What Happened On All The Continents Before 11,000 B.c.? -- A Natural Experiment Of History: How Geography Molded Societies On Polynesian Islands -- Collision At Cajamarca: Why The Inca Emperor Atahuallpa Did Not Capture King Charles I Of Spain -- The Rise And Spread Of Food Production. Farmer Power: The Roots Of Guns, Germs, And Steel -- History's Haves And Have-nots: Geographic Differences In The Onset Of Food Production -- To Farm Or Not To Farm: Causes Of The Spread Of Food Production -- How To Make An Almond: The Unconscious Development Of Ancient Crops -- Apples Or Indians: Why Did Peoples Of Some Regions Fail To Domesticate Plants? -- Zebras, Unhappy Marriages, And The Anna Karenina Principle: Why Were Most Big Wild Mammal Species Never Domesticated? -- Spacious Skies And Tilted Axes: Why Did Food Production Spread At Different Rates On Different Continents? -- From Food To Guns, Germs, And Steel. Lethal Gift Of Livestock: The Evolution Of Germs -- Blueprints And Borrowed Letters: The Evolution Of Writing -- Necessity's Mother: The Evolution Of Technology -- From Egalitarianism To Kleptocracy: The Evolution Of Government And Religion -- Around The World In Five Chapters. Yali's People: The Histories Of Australia And New Guinea -- How China Became Chinese: The History Of East Asia -- Speedboat To Polynesia: The History Of Austronesian Expansion -- Hemispheres Colliding: The Histories Of Eurasia And The Americas Compared -- How Africa Became Black: The History Of Africa -- The Future Of Human History As A Science -- Who Are The Japanese? 2003 Afterword: Guns, Germs, And Steel Today. Jared Diamond. With A New Afterword--cover. Originally Published As Norton Paperback In 1999, Reissued 2017. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 447-474) And Index.