Agora Foundation Online Intensives - Guns, Germs, and Steel
by Jared Diamond

“Much of human history has consisted of unequal conflicts between the haves and the have-nots.”

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond, published in 1998, attempts to provide a short history of everybody for the last 13,000 years. The book strives to answer the deep question: “Why did history unfold differently on different continents?” Through detailed examples and arguments, Guns, Germs, and Steel outlines why Eurasian and North African civilizations have survived and conquered others, while arguing against the idea that Eurasian hegemony is due to any form of Eurasian intellectual, moral, or inherent genetic superiority. The book won the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction and the Aventis Prize for Best Science Book. A documentary based on the book, and produced by the National Geographic Society, was broadcast on PBS in July 2005. 

“It seems logical to suppose that history's pattern reflects innate differences among people themselves. Of course, we're taught that it's not polite to say so in public. We see in our daily lives that some of the conquered peoples continue to form an underclass, centuries after the conquests or slave imports took place. We're told that this too is to be attributed not to any biological shortcomings but to social disadvantages and limited opportunities. Nevertheless, we have to wonder. We keep seeing all those glaring, persistent differences in peoples' status. We're assured that the seemingly transparent biological explanation for the world's inequalities as of A.D. 1500 is wrong, but we're not told what the correct explanation is. Until we have some convincing, detailed, agreed-upon explanation for the broad pattern of history, most people will continue to suspect that the racist biological explanation is correct after all. That seems to me the strongest argument for writing this book.” ― Jared Diamond

We invite you to join us this September for eight weekly online seminars taking place on Tuesday afternoons, 12:00-1:30PM Pacific Time. Text will be supplied.  The group will be limited to twelve participants and teachers will be offered 2 CEU credits for participation.