A non-racial explanation for Western domination (warning: attention span needed)

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Jared Diamond's "Guns Germs and Steel" mirror similar ideas. Is GEOGRAPHY destiny?

Source: http://www.historytoday.com/ian-morr...plains-history

You may have noticed that all the historical examples I have mentioned ? Italy, Greece, Israel, India, China ? lie in a narrow band of latitudes, roughly 20-35° north, stretching across the Old World. This is no accident: in fact, it is a crucial clue as to why the West rules. Humans may all be much the same, wherever we find them, but the places we find them in are not. Geography is unfair and can make all the difference in the world.

[Jim_Gunn]

"Guns, Germs & Steel" is a very interesting book, a Pulitzer Prize winner, and deservedly so. Fans of history will really enjoy it.

[Grapesoda]

Originally Posted by $5 submissions

Jared Diamond's "Guns Germs and Steel" mirror similar ideas. Is GEOGRAPHY destiny?

Source: http://www.historytoday.com/ian-morr...plains-history

so you disagree with t sowell's 'conquest and culture' then?

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Originally Posted by bm bradley

so you disagree with t sowell's 'conquest and culture' then?

Honestly, I'm not sure. Determinism is one hell of a line of thinking. I like Jared Diamon's quote from Anna Karenina in "Guns Germs and Steal"--"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way". It is so appropos to this discussion. Determinism kinda takes the wind out of the power of the pecularities that make up history. There's no such thing as inevitability. If you take out one or a few elements and play the historical record's video back, you might just be looking at differing outcomes.

[D Ghost]

interesting read