Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis

This book is the last in a trilogy. The first was Guns, Germs, and Steel, which was published in 1997, for which Diamond received the Pulitzer Prize. He argued in this work that geographical and environmental factors explained why Europe was able to conquer the world. Given its east-west axis, Europe benefitted from a temperate climate, which was conducive to agriculture. That, in turn, allowed some in the population to devote themselves to other tasks, leading to innovations. The invention of steel led to superior weapons and, ultimately, military triumphs. 

Critics of this work accused Diamond of environmental determinism. He answered those critics with his next book in the trilogy, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. As the title suggests, he argued in this work that societies make choices to ensure their sustainability or their downfall. However, he still highlighted geographical advantages and disadvantages, such as land borders with hostile neighbors.

This third book, Upheaval, offers guidance as to how nations successfully navigate crises to avoid collapse. Diamond argues that the coping mechanisms used by individuals in navigating crises have applicability to nations. As in Collapse, he uses qualitative case studies to explore this theory. Engaging in a comparative approach, he evaluates how well each one fares using 12 factors. Those factors, per Diamond, are the keys to navigating a national crisis. Readily acknowledging that this is a preliminary study intended only to develop hypotheses, he hopes that future scholars will test these factors with quantitative methods.

In all three of his works, Diamond draws upon his background in science and geography to provide interdisciplinary approaches. Originally trained in biochemistry, Diamond was a professor of geography at the University of California, Los Angeles until his retirement in 2024. In this work, he is marrying the fields of psychology, history, and politics.