Guns, Germs and Steel

Guns, Germs, and Steel (1997) is a short history of humanity over the last 13,000 years. The question it poses is as simple to state as it is hard to answer: Why did some parts of the world develop advanced technologies while others didn’t? It rejects explanations that rely on assumptions about the relative intelligence of different peoples. Instead, it argues that the divergence of human societies is best explained by natural factors such as climate, biology, and geology.

Jared Diamond is a professor of geography at UCLA in California. A trained biologist, he has worked in fields ranging from ornithology to history and ecology. Guns, Germs, and Steel won the Pulitzer Prize and was named one of Time magazine’s best nonfiction books of all time.