People of European descent form the bulk of the population in most of the temperate zones of the world--North America, Australia and New Zealand. T...
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reviews
Jan 29, 2011
David
rated it: 
Recommended by Michael Pollan (in
The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World) and clearly an important influence on Jared Diamond's
Guns, Germs and Steel, this is a good book for people who want to go deeper into current ideas about how the West got where it is (on top) and why (neither because of a superior intellect or a superior capacity for cruelty). The author, Alfred Crosby, doesn't waste the reader's time hyperventilating about the injustice of it all. He just lets More...
The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World) and clearly an important influence on Jared Diamond's
Guns, Germs and Steel, this is a good book for people who want to go deeper into current ideas about how the West got where it is (on top) and why (neither because of a superior intellect or a superior capacity for cruelty). The author, Alfred Crosby, doesn't waste the reader's time hyperventilating about the injustice of it all. He just lets More...
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Oct 21, 2007
Jonathan
rated it: 
Crosby develops a profound argument about the geographical location of Europeans. He argues that climate is a bigger force in European (and neo-European) location as anything else. Crosby asks big questions about the extinction of megafauna and exposes European imperialism that transcended bigger guns and bank acocunts. This environmental history text relies heavily on ecology and environmental science and subsequently dilutes (in my mind) it's social ramifications, but nonetheless it's a solid
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May 11, 2010
Andrew
rated it: 
while an important book which enables a new understanding of how the european takeover of the americas worked, it gets way too close to being an apology for genocide. the same goes for "guns, germs and steel," a knock off of this book, and a feel-good read for the wall street crowd. just because europeans didn't understand the changes they brought to the americas, doesn't mean that they are any less guilty for perpetrating what is likely the worst crime in the history of humanity.
Dec 08, 2008
T
rated it:
I really enjoyed the overall idea expressed in this book. Some of the specific details used to make the point were vague and over-generalized. It would be hard to do it otherwise in a book of this nature. To be more specfic would take volumes of books. Still, I am not knowledgable enough in the historical events he mentions to know when the specific arguments he makes are sound and when they are too biased and forced in order to make his point.
Jan 16, 2012
Meri
rated it:
For a person who has never enjoyed any non-fiction history books....I actually really enjoyed this book. It was the first required reading for a history class I didn't feel like throwing against a wall or burning afterwards. It was still pretty slow going for me, but I found myself quite interested in the content. I finished it much faster than what was required. In fact, I finished it before the class even began! I'm looking forward to this class. I guess this book is pretty good, if even I, th
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Jan 01, 2012
Daniel
rated it: 
This book opened up an important line of inquiry, but in Crosby's blithe hands the consideration of the role of micro-organisms and animals in "softening up" of indigenous populations before the arrival of European settlers too easily turns into an excuse for decimation and genocide.
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Jan 25, 2009
A thought provoking book about the ecological conquest that accompanied Europeans as they established their empires. This is a pivotal book that breaks away from imperial conquest and focuses on the conquest of plant life, among other things. A must.
Apr 07, 2010
Irina
rated it:
Amazing book on how the European's ecosystem, plants and house animals, followed them around the world to their conquered lands, in many cases playing a crucial role in expanding in these lands and maintaining their supremacy.
Dec 14, 2009
Jeff
rated it:
Very, very interesting. It was an eye-opener to the dramatic impact Europeans had in bringing not just diseases, but animals and plants into the Neo-Europes.
Apr 02, 2009
Melody
rated it:
Easily one of my favorites. Had to get this one for a history class. Two thumbs up for a professor who can pick a book worth reading.
Feb 23, 2009
Stephanie
rated it:
For fans of Jared Diamond, this is less wonkish but by no means less-groundbreaking.
Dec 25, 2008
John
rated it:
If you've been meaning to read guns germs and steel, forget that and read this.
Dec 17, 2009
Mike
rated it:
If you liked Guns, Germs, and Steel, this book is more of the same but better organized, more accurate, and easier to read. It doesn't make any grand claims to understand how food domestication occurs (which is not scientifically proven even in the above example) but he does present some very clear and good ideas about the nature of European Colonization. Just note that the Viking and Crusade sections suck and are quite wrong but beyond that the book iis great.
Dec 16, 2009
Joe
rated it:
I very much recommend this book. It's like Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs & Steel, except it came 20 years earlier. It may not be as immediately engaging in terms of pop-culture appeal but it's just as well written and makes a more thorough argument. It's one of these books that will change the way you think about humans and the natural world, human history and natural history. It's one of the best assigned-for-school reads I've ever had.
Oct 04, 2010
Peter
rated it:
People credit the Foucauldians and the cultural historians who came after him with giving some sort of historical agency to non-human actors like microbes. How to explain Crosby and McNeill, then? It's been a while since I've read either but I don't recall either being in the same sort of school. My guess: the ecohistorians are too straightforward for our anthropology-and-philosophy-inspired brethern.
Sep 15, 2007
I like this book because I borrowed the friend I borrowed it from isn't breathing down my neck to get it back which means I can enjoy the anticipation of reading it more than I would otherwise.
Mar 19, 2008
Tony
rated it:
This is the book that Jared Diamond copied. Problematic then, problematic now, but provacative in the great way.
Feb 11, 2012
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