GUNS, GERMS AND STEEL is nothing less than an enquiry into the reasons why Europe and the Near East became the cradle of modern societies-eventually giving rise to capitalism and science, the dominant forces in our contemporary world-and why, until modern times. Africa, Australasia and the Americas lagged behind in technological sophistication and in political and military power. The native peoples of those continents are still suffering the consequences. Diamond shows definitively that the origins of this inequality in human fortunes cannot be laid at the door of race or inherent features of the people themselves. He argues that the inequality stems instaed from the differing natural resources available to the people of each continent.