Episode #136 – What’s the Deal with Guns, Germs, and Steel? (Part I)

When Sebastian first read Jared Diamond’s Pulitzer Prize winning book Guns, Germs, and Steel as an undergrad, he thought it was brilliant. That was until a Professor he deeply respected, dismissed it as being little better than the Da Vinci Code. It turns out that while the 1997 bestseller earned many high profile plaudits, it also spawned legions of of critics. What’s in this book that has inspired such passionate responses? Did Jared Diamond crack the code of human history, or was he playing a little too fast and loose with his pop-science? Tune-in and find out how Charles Darwin, expletive laden academic journals, and Will Smith all play a role in the story.

These are the “continental axis” according to Jared Diamond

Persian Empire • Greatest & (Most Powerful) Empire of Ancient World! | PANA

Mongol Empire Under Ogedei Khan (Illustration) - World History Encyclopedia

The Roman Empire, explained in 40 maps - Vox — The Persian, Mongol, and Roman empires are just a few that potentially benefitted from the east-west axis of the Eurasian continent (if you accept Diamond’s argument).

Works Cited

Antrosio, Jason, 2011. “Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond: Against History.” Living Anthropologically website, https://www.livinganthropologically.com/archaeology/guns-germs-and-steel-jared-diamond/. First posted 7 July 2011. Last updated 7 June 2020.

Antrosio, Jason. 2013. “Eric Wolf, Europe and the People Without History (Rediscovered).” Living Anthropologically website, https://www.livinganthropologically.com/eric-wolf-europe-people-without-history/. First posted 26 January 2013. Revised 1 June 2021.

“’Guns, Germs, and Steel’ Reconsidered.” Inside Higher Ed, www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/08/03/guns-germs-and-steel-reconsidered.

Correia, David. “F**k Jared Diamond.” Capitalism Nature Socialism, vol. 24, no. 4, 2013, pp. 1–6., doi:10.1080/10455752.2013.846490.

Diamond, Jared M. Guns, Germs, and Steel the Fates of Human Societies. W.W. Norton & Company, 2017.

Lowrey, Kathleen (Ozma) et al. Savage Minds, 24 July 2005, savageminds.org/2005/07/24/anthropologys-guns-germs-and-steel-problem/.

Tomlinson, Tom. Reviews in History: Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, Institute of Historical Research, 1 May 1998, web.archive.org/web/20070927210040/www.history.ac.uk/reviews/paper/diamond.html.