Book Review
Elizabeth Ojo
October 23, 2018
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
Jared M. Diamond
480 pages; W. W. Norton & Company; 1st Edition, 1997; $22
Guns, Germs, and Steel is a 1997 non-fiction novel by Jared M. Diamond that explores over 13,000 years of human evolution to explain the process of human settlement in the world. The novel is divided into four major topics. Part One is From Eden to Cajamarca, Part Two- the Rise and Spread of Food Production, Part Three- From Food to Guns, Germs, and Steel, and the Final Part- Around the World in Five Chapters. Diamond’s journey begins in New Guinea with a conversation with man named Yali, who questions the effects of colonialism in society: “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?”
Yali’s question is relevant for us today because many parts of the world have more ‘cargo’ than others and we should wonder why societies evolved the way they did. The cargo that Yali refers to is technology. This implies tools as simple as axes, accessories like an umbrella, and more advanced inventions like the Internet and cell phones.
Diamond answers Yali’s question by explaining the non-significance of race. The success of a society relies on good animals for domestication and a fertile geographical location. The quality the society’s environment dictate its success. While nourishment and location are primary factors, they do not determine a country’s standing. The people also have to be knowledgeable of the world around them.
In part one of the novel, Diamond refers to Eden, when all was peaceful and resources were equal, and Cajamarca, the beginning of violent interactions between different groups of people fighting over those same resources. A timeline during 11,000 B.C.E. is nearly impossible to substantiate, but discovered artifacts provide the most evidence for a time when early human groups were in various locations of the world. The Pro-Magnons are noted 50,000 years ago, but the Clovis cannot be pinpointed in Europe. In early New Zealand, because the Morirori degraded into a nonviolent people who did not overpopulate, they were no match for the malicious Maori. These were two branches of people directly stemming from the same group.
Violence due to guns, germs, and steel is even more apparent among diverse groups of people. Fast forward to modern days, the Sioux warriors, a civilization with limited technology annihilated General George Custer’s U.S. Army Battalion at the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876. However, the Native Americans in North America were ultimately destroyed by the colonists because they could not fight of disease they were isolated from and advanced weaponry they did not know how to counter. Their descendants now mainly living on reservations.
Food becomes a driving force for people everywhere. It is essential in order to maintain life and therefore it is valuable. Food as a symbol of peace can settle disagreements, but it can also start wars. Hunter-gatherers could not support more than one offspring at a time. On the other hand, sedentary farmers could support as many children as possible. The increase of food allowed some people to form societies that would benefit the entire group.
Diamond’s conclusions from previous chapters include that the New World did not begin to develop itself until after the Old World. Also, the major cities were not connected, so they never pooled resources to form trade routes with each other. The New World did not have as many domesticated animals that would be kept for purposes other than immediate food. Diamond’s claim that ‘invention actually creates necessity’. The pursuit of scientific or philosophical achievement is best fostered in a settled environment where not all members of society have to work for survival. This is associated with kleptocracy, a government by those who seek chiefly status and personal gain at the expense of the governed.
A vital thread throughout the novel is Yali’s question. Diamond uses an unbiased viewpoint to explain human history and he explores several possible reasons, sources, and outcomes from the different factors. He explained the factors of man and land that caused the earth to unfold the way it did. There is a science to the complexity of human history. There is a deeper level in history that can be explored. Somewhere, there will be a different factor, or maybe even a society that defied the expectations of what has normally happened throughout history. One must look towards the past to better understand the present and future.