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One of the most puzzling questions of all-time is the following: why is it that European societies have dominated the vast majority of world history?

Too often in the past, supposed intellectuals have offered racist theories based on supposed biological and genetic differences between the races. Diamond's thought-provoking, Pulitzer Prize-winning book shatters the racist myth and replaces it with an explanation based primarily on geography (as well as a certain amount of random luck). In a nutshell, Diamond argues that various factors present in Europe gave rise to the development of agriculture and the domestication of animals at an early stage. This in turn led to increased population density, which in turn led to increased specialization among the members of society (including the development of scribes, religious elite, soldiers, inventors, bureaucrats, etc.) Increased population density also resulted in greater resistance to diseases.

Despite the fact that the book covers the entire span of human history, it manages to be both relatively brief (480 pages for the paperback edition) and thorough. And despite its fairly heady subject matter, it also manages to be entertaining and a relatively easy read.

Part of the reason that the book is enjoyable is the fact that Diamond makes great use of several interesting stories and vignettes, many of which are gathered from his time spent as an evolutionary biologist working in New Guinea. While these stories are some of the more dramatic parts of the book (even Diamond's description of the history of agriculture is interesting), they also point out one of the more problematic aspects of Diamond's work. He has tendency to make broad, far-ranging generalizations about world history based on scanty (and sometimes completely non-existent) evidence.

Nevertheless, the logic of the book is sound, and the vast majority of his arguments are compelling. If nothing else, the book is worth reading for its uncanny ability to make one view the world in a slightly different light. This is true whether you agree with Diamond's thesis or not.

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(Submitted 3/22/00 by Notre Dame law student Julio.)