Upheaval. How Nations Cope with Crisis and Change (944776)

‘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, heexplores 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