From BookJive
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| Edition: | W. W. Norton & Company (Paperback) |
| Author: | Jared Diamond |
| Published: | April 1999 |
| Pages: | 480 |
| ISBN 10: | 0393317552 |
| New: | $7.27 (183) |
| Used: | $0.77 (1062) |
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Prologue: Yali's Question
The regionally differing courses of history
Yali, a politician from New Guinea, asked Diamond (who was then studying bird evolution in New Guinea) "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?" (p. 14). The word cargo refers to the goods that white settlers and traders brought over to New Guinea such as steel axes, matches, medicine clothing, soft drinks, umbrellas, etc. This book is an attempt to answer Yali's question.
Part One: From Eden to Cajamarca
Chapter 1: Up to the Starting Line
What happened on all the continents before 11,000 B.C.?
Chapter 2: A Natural Experiment of History
How geography molded societies on Polynesian islands
Chapter 3: Collision at Cajamarca
Why the Inca emperor Atahuallpa did not capture King Charles I of Spain
Part Two: The Rise and Spread of Food Production
Chapter 4: Farmer Power
The roots of guns, germs, and steel
How did white American farmers defeat the brave Native American warriors? For one, farming, in comparison with hunter gathering, yields many more calories per acre which supports higher population densities and great numbers. The food surplus produced by farming societies allows some of its members to take on other roles such as roles in government, roles as professional soldiers or priests, and roles in other specialized trades. The domestication of animals provided food, transportation, and advantages in times of war. The domestication of animals also led to animal-derived germs that farmers over time grew immune to, but which infected and killed entire native populations of hunter gatherer peoples.
Chapter 5: History's Haves and Have-Nots
Geographic differences in the onset of food production
Chapter 6: To Farm or Not to Farm
Cause of the spread of food production
Chapter 7: How to Make an Almond
The unconscious development of ancient crops
Chapter 8: Apples or Indians
Why did peoples of some regions fail to domesticate plants?
Chapter 9: Zebras, Unhappy Marriages, and the Anna Karenina Principle
Why were most big wild mammal species never domesticated?
Chapter 10: Spacious Skies and Tilted Axes
Why did food production spread at different rates on different continents?
Part Three: From Food to Guns, Germs, and Steel
Chapter 11:Lethal Gift of Livestock
The evolution of germs
Chapter 12:Blueprints and Borrowed Letters
The evolution of writing
Chapter 13:Necessity's Mother
The evolution of technology
Chapter 14:From Egalitarianism to Kleptocracy
The evolution of government and religion
'Decendants of those societies that achieved centralized government and organized religion earliest ended up dominating the modern world...How did government and religion arize?' To answer this question and for the purposes of this book societies are categorized into four different groups or stages: bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and states. Each group succeeds or differs from the previous group in population, food production capabilities, complexity of government, economics, social equality, etc. In nonegalitarian cheifdoms wealth is transferred from the commoners to the upper classes creating a kleptocracy of varying degrees.
A kleptocracy is a government in which certain individuals or groups take taxes or tribute from commoners in order to redistribute the goods to the public. When governments redistribute all or most of the goods the citizens are usually happy. Otherwise they feel cheated and may revolt. Complex states arise from one of two ways: by conquest, or by merger under external threat.
Part Four: Around the World in Five Chapters
Chapter 15: Yali's People
The histories of Australia and New Guinea
Chapter 16: How China Became Chinese
The history of East Asia
Chapter 17: Speedboat to Polynesia
The history of the Austronesian expansion
Chapter 18: Hempispheres Colliding
The history of Eurasia and the Americas compared
Chapter 19: How Africa Became Black
The history of Africa
