Editing Jared Diamond (section)

=== ''Guns, Germs, and Steel'' (1997) ===
His second and best known popular science book, ''[[Guns, Germs, and Steel|Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies]]'', was published in 1997. It asks why Eurasian peoples conquered or displaced [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]], [[Indigenous Australians|Australians]], and Africans, instead of vice versa. It argues that this outcome was not due to genetic advantages of Eurasian peoples themselves but instead to features of the Eurasian continent, in particular, its high diversity of wild plant and animal species suitable for [[domestication]] and its east/west major axis that favored the spread of those domesticates, people, technologies—and diseases—for long distances with little change in latitude.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

The first part of the book focuses on reasons why only a few species of wild plants and animals proved suitable for domestication. The second part discusses how local food production based on those domesticates led to the development of dense and stratified human populations, writing, centralized political organization, and [[epidemic]] infectious diseases. The third part compares the development of food production and of human societies among different continents and world regions. ''Guns, Germs, and Steel'' became an international best-seller, was translated into 33 languages, and received several awards, including a [[Pulitzer Prize]], an [[Aventis Prize for Science Books]]<ref name=rsocprizes/> and the 1997 [[Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science]].<ref>{{cite web |title=1997 Phi Beta Kappa Science Book Award |url=http://www.pbk.org/infoview/PBK_Infoview.aspx?t=&id=57 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090428155737/http://www.pbk.org/infoview/PBK_Infoview.aspx?t=&id=57 |archive-date=2009-04-28 |access-date=2023-09-29 |website=[[The Phi Beta Kappa Society]] |publisher=}}</ref> A television documentary series based on the book was produced by the [[National Geographic Society]] in 2005.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lovgren |first=Stefan |date=July 6, 2005 |title='Guns, Germs and Steel': Jared Diamond on Geography as Power |newspaper=[[National Geographic]] |department=Science |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/07/0706_050706_diamond.html |url-status=dead |access-date=December 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070304121447/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/07/0706_050706_diamond.html |archive-date=2007-03-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Guns Germs & Steel: The Show. Overview |url=https://www.pbs.org/gunsgermssteel/show/index.html |access-date=2023-09-29 |website=[[PBS]] |publisher=}}</ref>

The book is controversial among anthropologists.<ref name=":0" />