Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies attempts to explain why history progressed differently for peoples from various geographical regions. Diamond sums up his book with the following sentence, "History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples' environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves" (pg 25). Diamond argues that environmental factors, such as plant and animal domestication, gave some societies advantages over others, allowing them to conquer the disadvantaged societies.
In the first section of the book, Diamond takes the reader on a tour of human history. He discusses the evolution and spread of human beings, arguing that some peoples had a 'head start' over others because of the timing of human evolution. He examines how environments shaped human history through a brief examination of how societies on the.....
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