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Guns, Germs, and Steel ( National Geographic Video )
Release Date: 2005-07-12
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List Price: $34.98
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Description
Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book and national best seller, Guns, Germs, and Steel is an epic detective story that offers a gripping expose on why the world is so unequal. Professor Jared Diamond traveled the globe for over 30 years trying to answer the biggest question of world history. Why is the world so unequal? The answers he found were simple yet extraordinary. Our destiny depends on geography and access to: Guns, Germs, and Steel. Weaving together anthropology and science with epic historical reenactments, Guns, Germs, and Steel brings Diamond's fascinating theories to life, and moves beyond the book to bring his ideas into the present day.
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Amazon.com
Is the balance of power in the world, the essentially unequal distribution of wealth and clout that has shaped civilization for centuries, a matter of survival of the fittest… or merely of the luckiest? In Guns, Germs, and Steel, UCLA professor (and author of the best-seller bearing the same title) Jared Diamond makes a compelling case for the latter. Diamond's theory is that the predominance of white Europeans (and Americans of European descent) over other cultures has nothing to do with racial superiority, as many have claimed, but is instead the result of nothing more, or less, than geographical coincidence. His argument, in a nutshell, is that the people who populated the Middle East's "fertile crescent" thousands of years ago were the first farmers, blessed with abundant natural resources (native crops such as wheat and barley, domesticable animals like pigs, goats, sheep, and cows). When their descendents migrated to Europe and northern Africa, climates similar to the crescent's, those same assets, which were unavailable in most of the rest of the world, led to the flourishing of advanced civilizations in those places as well. Add to that their ability to control fire, and Europeans eventually developed the guns and steel (swords, trains, etc.) they used to conquer the planet (the devastating diseases they brought with them, like smallpox, were an unplanned "benefit" to their subjugation of, for instance, Peru's native Incas). Spread out over three episodes and two discs and presented with National Geographic's usual style and thoroughness, the program uses location footage (from New Guinea, South America, Africa, and elsewhere), interviews, reenactments, maps, and Diamond's own participation to support his thesis. And while one might disagree with his conclusions, there is no doubt that Guns, Germs, and Steel is a provocative, classy piece of work. --Sam Graham
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 Excellent Story - Overly Repetitive ( lodge2 )
If you deleted the constant repetition of the title and some of the scenes put in for their emotional value only, it would have been a much better product.
Geography and luck play a major role in the early formation of civilizations. Unfortunately, the author does not expand beyond that simple theory and show how these advantages/disadvantages could be squandered/overcome by societies. His theory does explain why the Europeans were able to conquer most of the world, but does does not explain why it was the Europeans and not the Arabs, Egyptians, Greeks, etc... who had a much larger "headstart" than the Dutch and English.
Overall it was well worth my time and I recommend this DVD.
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 Unintended Consequences ( onedirector2 )
As a child, I was taught that society was developed in the Fertile Crescent and migrated northwest where the success of European society was due to moderate temperature. Of course all this was God's will. (I went to Catholic school.) This eerily familiar story line is augmented by Dr. Jared Diamond in this compelling documentary in which he explains these phenomena in understandable and sometimes surprising ways. The importance of domesticated animals may be more obvious at first glance, but their involvement in disease and later decimation of the Native American population is an example of the unintended consequences that plague human history (no pun intended).
I use this film in Technology and Society classes where most students are introduced to these principles without the assumption that the "greatness" of European domination was inspired by Divinity. This is definitely worth the class time. Inspired discussions in any Humanities-oriented class from Nationalist arrogance to Global Warming make this a valuable addition to any teacher's collection. The fact that the "mosquito line" is rising in Africa (see Inconvenient Truth) and West Nile Virus is in Southern Californian have been subjects of discussion after viewing this film.
Don't worry if you don't have all the answers. I have found that inspiring students to ask the questions is the real goal of teaching. This film helps do that.
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Guns, Germs, and Steel
Why did some cultures expand faster than others? Why do some cultures have more power and wealth than others? These are the questions answered in Guns, Germs, and Steel. The cultures that developed agriculture had time to develop other technologies (Guns and Steel) and thus were able to conquer other cultures (hunting/foraging societies). A big contributing factor to these agrarian cultures was close proximity to animals and the diseases they carried. This provided the immunity to germs which other cultures lacked. The germs were by far more lethal than the guns and steel. Jared Diamond shows how these events all came about and the twist that happened in Africa. A very entertaining and insightful documentary.
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Heartily recommend the book and the video, and especially both together
Jared Diamond's book "Guns, Germs and Steel" has had a profound impact on our understanding of human society, how we got to where we are today and the underlining forces that shaped our history. In the true definition of genius, Diamond examines these very complex subjects and leaves the reader with a sense of it all being so simple, just common sense really.
The first time viewer should find the video interesting and stimulating. It provides a brief overview of the overall concept, and helps visualise the importance of the three main points, guns, germs and steel. The video also goes on to explore how these same forces affect more recent world events. However, in the shortness of time, there is not enough substance in the video to fully explain all the points that are covered.
The book and video complement each other nicely.
As one who has read the book, I found it entertaining to meet the author on video and see these rather dry and academic theories illustrated in graphics, explained on location in interviews, and acted out in theatre.
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Simply an Awesome Eye Opener ( powelle1 )
My eyes were open to things that I didnt even know influenced our civilization and culture. This DVD shows that much of the progress and stagnation in our world has been largely due to geographic forces displaying themselves in the form of guns, germs, and steel. This documentary is not law but a look at a very creative yet credible theory on the division between the modern day rich and poor and how they came to be.
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