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Geography as Premise
Diamond’s
argument begins with geography and links to a number of closely-related items
summarized in his chart entitled, “Factors Underlying the Broadest
Pattern of History,” p. 87 of Guns, Germs, and Steel (New York:
W. W. Norton and Co., 1999)
In a more linear fashion, I’ll give some highlights of his argument. What follows attempts to explain Diamond's chart, though I am necessarily over-simplifying Diamond's argument. He gives much more detail, and I recommend that anyone reading this read his book. His book is a grand, simplifying, explanatory thesis; my rough summary hardly does his argument justice, but it can get you moving in the right direction.
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