Fwd: more on Diamond

[Jim Devine <jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

here's another comment on Diamond's GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL, by Barkley
Rosser, a pen-l alumnus.

> From: "J. Barkley Rosser, Jr." <rosserjb@xxxxxxx>
> To: "Jim Devine" <jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
>         "Brad De Long" <delong@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: more on Diamond
> Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 18:20:12 -0400
> X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.3155.0
>
> Over the weekend I took a closer look at Diamond's book in light of the
> discussion I have seen.  My opinion is somewhat improved, although one
> should really look at some of the books it draws on.  It is well done, but
> quite a bit of this has been
> said before.  However, Diamond does a fair job of mentioning such works in
> his Readings section in the back, noting McNeill's book as being
> especially influential (McNeill wrote a praising blurb on the dust cover
> that I saw).  Also, Zinsser was published in 1935 by Little Brown out of
> Boston.

> It has been well known for some time that disease played a major role in
> the conquest of Austronesia and the Americas.  The question thus still
> gets back to Africa as I mentioned before.  I looked closely at his
> discussion of this and think he makes some plausible points.  One is this
> business about the east-west axis versus the north-south axis, that it is
> easier to transfer crops and technologies east-west as could be done in
> Eurasia than north-south which is the axis in Africa.  That may be the
> biggie, actually.  Diamond clearly recognizes that Africans have more
> disease resistance than Eurasians and also argues that the other crucial
> factor was the lack of easily domesticated animals in Africa that was a
> key, relative to Eurasia, and raises the spectre of Africans on rhinos
> conquering Rome.

> I miswrote before about dogs and measles.  Measles came from rinderpest
> from cattle, but not a big deal.  Diamond does
> link even some of the diseases from wild animals with crop production, an
> interesting point.  Malaria, an African originated disease, and one of the
> really big killers, tended to arise near agricultural villages.  Also,
> bubonic plague, although from wild rats, was tied to crop production as
> the rats tended to be attracted by grains.

> I'm still not sure it is the great work of genius of the 1990s, but it
> does a pretty credible job and deals with quite a few difficult
> issues.  It is also nice to see an effort to come up with a non-racist
> explanation for this stuff.
> Barkley Rosser

Jim Devine jdevine@xxxxxxx &  http://liberalarts.lmu.edu/~jdevine