Upheaval : turning points for nations in crisis

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Title:

Upheaval : turning points for nations in crisis

Author:

Diamond, Jared M., author.

Strozier, Henry, narrator.

Summary:

Jared Diamond reveals how some nations successfully recover from crises while adopting selective changes--a coping mechanism more commonly associated with individuals recovering from personal crises. Diamond compares how six countries have survived recent upheavals--ranging from the forced opening of Japan by U.S. Commodore Perry's fleet, to the Soviet Union's attack on Finland, to a murderous coup or countercoup in Chile and Indonesia, to the transformations of Germany and Austria after World War Two. Because Diamond has lived and spoken the language in five of these six countries, he can present gut-wrenching histories experienced firsthand. These nations coped, to varying degrees, through mechanisms such as acknowledgment of responsibility, painfully honest self-appraisal, and learning from models of other nations. Looking to the future, Diamond examines whether the United States, Japan, and the whole world are successfully coping with the grave crises they currently face. Can we learn from lessons of the past? Adding a psychological dimension to the in-depth history, geography, biology, and anthropology, Upheaval reveals factors influencing how both whole nations and individual people can respond to big challenges.

General Note:

Title from web page.

Compact discs.

Edition:

Unabridged.

Physical Description:

15 audio discs (18.74 hr.) : CD audio, digital ; 4 3/4 in.

Genre:

Subject Term:

Author(s):

Publisher:

Recorded Books, Inc.,

Publication Date:

2019

ISBN:

9781980034445

Publication Information:

[Prince Frederick, MD] : Recorded Books, Inc., [2019]

Call Number:

CDB 303.48 DIAMOND

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003411967	Adult Nonfiction Books on CDs	303.48 DIAMOND	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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Summary

A brilliant new theory of how and why some nations recover from trauma and others don't, by the author of the landmark bestsellers Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse. In his earlier bestsellers Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse, Jared Diamond transformed our understanding of what makes civilizations rise and fall. Now, in the final book in this monumental trilogy, he reveals how successful nations recover from crisis through selective change -- a coping mechanism more commonly associated with personal trauma. In a dazzling comparative study, Diamond shows us how seven countries have survived defining upheavals in the recent past -- from US Commodore Perry's arrival in Japan to the Soviet invasion of Finland to Pinochet's regime in Chile -- through a process of painful self-appraisal and adaptation, and he identifies patterns in the way that these distinct nations recovered from calamity. Looking ahead to the future, he investigates whether the United States, and the world, are squandering their natural advantages, on a path towards political conflict and decline. Or can we still learn from the lessons of the past? Adding a psychological dimension to the awe-inspiring grasp of history, geography, economics, and anthropology that marks all Diamond's work, Upheaval reveals how both nations and individuals can become more resilient. The result is a book that is epic, urgent, and groundbreaking.

Author Notes

Jared Diamond has been the national baseball writer for the Wall Street Journal since 2017. Prior to that, he spent a season as the Journal's Yankees beat writer and three seasons as their Mets beat writer. In his current role, he leads the newspaper's baseball coverage. This is his first book.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Drastic national course corrections flow from complex social psychologies, according to this rich but unfocused treatise in comparative history. Pulitzer-winning UCLA geography professor Diamond (Guns, Germs and Steel) examines episodes of national upheaval and change, including Japan's opening to the West after 1853, Finland's accommodation of the Soviet Union after they fought during WWII, and Chile's whipsawing from Salvador Allende's socialist regime to Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship to liberal democracy. He analyzes these developments through the lens of "crisis therapy," a psychological treatment program for trauma victims, identifying 12 factors that help societies rebound from crises, including honest self-appraisal, a strong identity and core values, flexibility, help from external sources, and freedom from geopolitical constraints. He also applies these factors to present-day crises, including Japan's population decline, America's political polarization, and climate change. Diamond offers far-ranging, erudite, lucid accounts of historical cruxes, spiced by sharp-eyed personal observations-he seems to have been everywhere-of national characters and quirks. Unfortunately, his social-psychological framework lacks the concise explanatory power of his books on geographical and environmental influences on history; his factors often seem like squishy truisms that fit any happenstance without proving much beyond the importance of realism and adaptability. The result is a suite of notable historical retrospectives that point in no singular direction. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Library Journal Review

In Guns, Germs, and Steel and later in Collapse, Diamond (geography, Univ. of California Los Angeles) demonstrated the ability to extract answers from unwieldy masses of information and apply it to understanding questions of today. This newest offering complements the former two and completes the author's trilogy by focusing on the resources six nations drew on to deal with crisis. The cases are: Finland after the Soviets invaded in 1939; Japan following the arrival of U.S. Commodore Matthew C. Perry in 1853; Chile post-Augusto Pinochet; Indonesia after presidents Sukarno and Suharto; Germany in the aftermath of World War II; and Australia's demographic transformation into the multiethnic society it is today. Diamond draws on crisis therapy to compose a list of enablers of change and applies them to these nations' behavior in their time of stress. In conclusion, he considers current problems, especially political partisanship, facing Japan and the United States, and briefly discusses other global threats to political stability. VERDICT Diamond is a master at explicating matters of pressing importance. His earlier books garnered a vast readership, and there will be equal demand for this one, too. [See Prepub Alert, 11/5/18.]-David Keymer, Cleveland © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.