num_pages: 480
description: In this "artful, informative, and delightful" (William H. McNeill, New York Review of Books) book, Jared Diamond convincingly argues that geographical and environmental factors shaped the modern world. Societies that had had a head start in food production advanced beyond the hunter-gatherer stage, and then developed religion --as well as nasty germs and potent weapons of war --and adventured on sea and land to conquer and decimate preliterate cultures. A major advance in our understanding of human societies, Guns, Germs, and Steel chronicles the way that the modern world came to be and stunningly dismantles racially based theories of human history. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science, the Rhone-Poulenc Prize, and the Commonwealth club of California's Gold Medal.
language: English
title: Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
titlecomplete: Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
genres: Anthropology, Historical, Politics, Science, Nonfiction, Audiobook, World History, Economics, Sociology, History
ratings_count: 395691
series: Civilizations Rise and Fall
awards: awardedAt: 883641600000
name: Royal Society Science Book Prize
category: General Prize, awardedAt: 883641600000
name: Pulitzer Prize
category: General Nonfiction, awardedAt: 852105600000
name: California Book Award
category: Nonfiction (Gold), awardedAt: 978336000000
name: Puddly Award
category: History
publisher: Econo-Clad Books, American Cos., Inc. Division