grease guns
guns germs and steel the fates of human societies
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 californias gold medal .
dismantles racially based theories of human history by revealing the environmental factors he feels are responsible for historys broadest patterns