Upheaval (how Nations Cope With Crisis And Change)

By (author) Diamond, Jared
Description:

''A riveting and illuminating tour of how nations deal with crises - which might hopefully help humanity as a whole deal with our present global crisis'' YUVAL NOAH HARARI, author of SAPIENS

** NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**

Author of the landmark international bestsellers Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse, Jared Diamond has transformed our understanding of what makes civilizations rise and fall. Now, at a time when crises are erupting around the world, he explores what makes certain nations resilient, and reveals the factors that influence how nations and individuals can respond to enormous challenges.

In a riveting journey into the recent past, he traces how six distinctive modern nations - Finland, Chile, Indonesia, Japan, Germany and Australia - have survived defining catastrophes, and identifies patterns in their recovery. Looking ahead, he investigates the risk that the United States and other countries, faced by grave threat, are set on a course towards catastrophe.

Adding a rich psychological dimension to the in-depth history, geography, biology and anthropology that underpin all of Diamond''s writing, Upheaval is epic in scope, but also his most personal book yet.

''Fascinating ... I finished the book even more optimistic about our ability to solve problems than I started'' BILL GATES

''Jared Diamond does it again: another rich, original and fascinating chapter in the human saga - with vital lessons for our difficult times'' STEVEN PINKER

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Fascinating... I''m a big fan of everything Jared has written, and his latest is no exception. ... I finished the book even more optimistic about our ability to solve problems than I started.
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Upheaval is bold, wide-ranging and original ... probes large and important questions. Unlike most social scientists, Diamond can write invigorating prose that carries the reader along with its sweep ... It deserves to be widely read and pondered.
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A riveting and illuminating tour of how nations deal with crises-which might hopefully help humanity as a whole deal with our present global crisis.
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Jared Diamond is an undisputed global star of comparative history... Britain could learn from this book about how other nations have dealt with turmoil... He finds intellectually stimulating and unusual examples that provide much food for thought.
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Diamond writes so well, and his frame of reference (across disciplines and languages) is so considerable, that almost everything he describes comes across as fresh.
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[Diamond] wears the mantle of a modern-day prophet . . . opens textures of historical possibility. Only the most obtuse reader of his latest book, on national resilience, could miss the signs and portents with which it is studded ... The prophet spares us chiselled commandments, but we have been warned.
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Fascinating globe-hopping study
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As a meditation about a world on edge, it is well worth reading
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Persuasive . . . runs refreshingly counter to conventional wisdom
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Jared Diamond does it again: another rich, original, and fascinating chapter in the human saga-with vital lessons for our difficult times.
Biographical note:
Jared Diamond is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the seminal million-copy-bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel, which was named one of Time magazine''s best non-fiction books of all time, Collapse, a No. 1 international bestseller, and The World Until Yester