publication croisée depuis : https://lemmy.ml/post/26991234
Any era is welcome but I’m especially interested in modern history.
I know that having just one book which talks about the history of the whole world would be difficult but let’s see if you guys know something (series are welcomed suggestions too).
I read a book called Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond which was quite good. It explores why certain civilisations were able to conquer others
I’m glad you enjoyed the book, and I hope it led to further reading. It comes with a list of caveats a mile long from other historians and anthropologists. Engaging, yes, but I would dispute it meets the “accuracy” criterion OP laid out.
For those unaware, Diamond’s book attempts to explain the disparity of power and wealth between European cultures and the rest of the world. Thankfully, he explicitly rejects any argument based upon inherent white supremacy, so that’s good. Since that old chestnut is off limits, though, he has to find a different paradigm to explain the disparity. To that end, he argued that the environmental factors of the European continent made it so any other outcome was practically impossible. The handful of geographical advantages afforded to those early civilizations compounded upon themselves time and time again, inevitably resulting in European hegemony.
On its face, it’s an argument that makes some degree of sense, especially if your world history education is already predisposed to a Eurocentric view. Due to the book’s success, it has been the subject of a lot of rebuttals and counter-arguments from other scholars. It’s worth perusing some of that scholarship if you found Diamond’s arguments interesting or compelling.
I suppose if you try and distil any history down into a single unified theory it’s gonna have caveats. Yes, the world is infinitely more complex than the simplistic version he creates, but I think the broad strokes are there. If nothing else it’s a jumping off point to get people interested in the evolution of civilisations and will hopefully encourage people to follow up with their own research.