Guns, Germs and Steel

History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples' environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves."

In the latter case it is often government that organizes the conquest, and religion that justifies it.

aardvarks

dichotomy

Hernando de Soto

history is not "just one damn fact after another," as a cynic put it. There really are broad patterns to history, and the search for their explanation is as productive as it is fascinating