Preface to the Paperback Edition
PROLOGUE YALI’S QUESTION The regionally differing courses of history
PART ONE FROM EDEN TO CAJAMARCA
CHAPTER 1 UP TO THE STARTING LINE What happened on all the continents before 11,000 B.C.?
CHAPTER 2 A NATURAL EXPERIMENT OF HISTORY How geography molded societies on Polynesian islands
CHAPTER 3 COLLISION AT CAJAMARCA Why the Inca emperor Atahuallpa did not capture King Charles I of Spain
PART TWO THE RISE AND SPREAD OF FOOD PRODUCTION
CHAPTER 4 FARMER POWER The roots of guns, germs, and steel
CHAPTER 5 HISTORY’S HAVES AND HAVE-NOTS Geographic differences in the onset of food production
CHAPTER 6 TO FARM OR NOT TO FARM Causes of the spread of food production
CHAPTER 7 HOW TO MAKE AN ALMOND The unconscious development of ancient crops
CHAPTER 8 APPLES OR INDIANS Why did peoples of some regions fail to domesticate plants?
CHAPTER 9 ZEBRAS, UNHAPPY MARRIAGES, AND THE ANNA KARENINA PRINCIPLE Why were most big wild mammal species never domesticated?
CHAPTER 10 SPACIOUS SKIES AND TILTED AXES Why did food production spread at different rates on different continents?
PART THREE FROM FOOD TO GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL
CHAPTER 11 LETHAL GIFT OF LIVESTOCK The evolution of germs
CHAPTER 12 BLUEPRINTS AND BORROWED LETTERS The evolution of writing
CHAPTER 13 NECESSITY’S MOTHER The evolution of technology
CHAPTER 14 FROM EGALITARIANISM TO KLEPTOCRACY The evolution of government and religion
PART FOUR AROUND THE WORLD IN FIVE CHAPTERS
CHAPTER 15 YALI’S PEOPLE The histories of Australia and New Guinea
CHAPTER 16 HOW CHINA BECAME CHINESE The history of East Asia
CHAPTER 17 SPEEDBOAT TO POLYNESIA The history of the Austronesian expansion
CHAPTER 18 HEMISPHERES COLLIDING The histories of Eurasia and the Americas compared
CHAPTER 19 HOW AFRICA BECAME BLACK The history of Africa
EPILOGUE THE FUTURE OF HUMAN HISTORY AS A SCIENCE
2003 Afterword: Guns, Germs, and Steel Today
Acknowledgments
Further Readings
Credits
