Audiobook18 hours
Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis
Written by Jared Diamond
Narrated by Henry Strozier
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this audiobook
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
Jared Diamond
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.
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Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Invisible Hands: Top Hedge Fund Traders on Bubbles, Crashes, and Real Money Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
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Reviews for Upheaval
Rating: 4.186936903153153 out of 5 stars
4/5
222 ratings20 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good book and interesting case studies. Unfortunately it is quite repetitive. Going over the same points over and again throughout.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent in every respect. I'm a fan of the author, having read GERMS, GUNS 20 years ago. I benefitted bgreatly from his synopses and global analyses. Narrator's ability contributed greatly. A mature work
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Amazing book for lovers of history and life itself. Inspirational and concerning at the same time.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Should be a required history book for all the nations!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Good book for knowing the history of some nations such as Australia and Indonesia, where there are some disadvantages like misinformation about some countries.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jared Diamond is one of my favorite writers out there. So much to learn from his studies.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent interpretation of historical events and personalities to provide lessons to readers in understanding and management of a crisis
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The book was good. However, the chapters dealing with the US did not provide any new insight or a potential forward path.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Surprisingly an easy read for it’s length. I knew almost nothing about all of the countries discussed but was able to relate with and understand the different stories presented in the book. Learned a lot!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great book. The audio was very pleasant to listen.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The thesis of this survey of diverse countries that faced unique challenges. Using a structure of a therapy session and the process of positive emotional change, Dr.Diamond help guide me to understand geopolitical events.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A fascinating book, which draws you on into its argument based on just seven countries that have had to face challenging circumstances. This does not of course constitute any type of random or representative sample, based as it is on the author's personal familiarity with those particular countries. However the 12 "factors related to the outcomes of national crises" provide a generalized and fairly acceptable framework to look at other situations, especially the reader's own country and its neighbors. On this basis, it is quite evident that successful countries (and individuals!) have generally been realistic, self-aware, flexible, willing to learn from others, and so on. It should be fairly simple and straight-forward to develop this sort of understanding into best-option suggestions for each country's or institution's leadership.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent presentation on how nation states have come to deal with upheavals. This, as with his previous books, requires careful and thoughtful reading. The reader will not be disappointed.
I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a fair reading and review. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Too long winded.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mr. diamond does get around, and in this book he is telling us about seven examples of countries and how they cope with large stresses. His analogies are drawn to the psychological stages and strategies of humans in the face of crises. The terms are slightly different than the Arnold Toynbee approach, but they are similar. Not much in the way of maps, but his approach is not heavily visual, but argumentative. The effort is thoughtful, and there are some short snappers to be thrown into arguments. A pleasant read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For a select few nations the author lived in, he reviews crises that nation endured and how they responded and worked their way through threw them. He initially defined signs of crises.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A well researched and well written exploration into considering how nations come to grips with crises and adapt.The author uses personal crises and the way in which individuals manage them and seeks to see whether a similar process may play out with nations. He explores, in depth, nations which underwent crisis and which he has some level of personal experience - Finland, Japan, Chile, Indonesia, Germany and Australia. He then considers the present challenges for Japan, the United States, and the world in general; he concludes with his conclusions, questions, and how it looks for the future. The biggest challenge of the work is the cosmopolitan nature of the author and how he takes for granted most of the premises of cosmopolitanism. Such is not to say that he is wrong or anything of that sort; it just means that the work is unlikely to persuade a lot of people. Those who will agree will already share the general predisposition of the author; those who tend to be more nationalist or have skepticism about cosmopolitanism will not have their worldview sufficiently challenged by the portrayal of the author. A fascinating deep dive into the modern history of the countries discussed, and an interesting way forward to consider when it comes to nations and crises.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is an interesting book, combining concise and insightful historical essays with an effort to approach a general theory of how nations deal with crisis. It is not, however, another "Guns, Germs, and Steel", Mr. Diamond's 1997 masterpiece. It is probably unfair to expect that it would be; one great book is more than most writers can dream of. But the comparison is unavoidable, and it is not flattering to "Upheaval". The first part of the book, dealing with crises in six countries (Finland, Japan, Chile, Indonesia, Germany, and Australia) is informative and interesting. Mr. Diamond's discussion of the current situation in the US is less so, because it is so familiar. But the next part of the book, in which Mr. Diamond attempts to apply a psychological framework based on individuals in crisis to these various national crisis, was far less satisfying. I had the feeling that individual countries' experiences had been jammed into a checklist that did not, at the end of it all, tell me very much. Also, the lack of more than peripheral discussion of countries where crisis was NOT surmounted seems to me a weakness. Mr. Diamond explicitly acknowledges that he is working towards an approach to analyzing nations' experience, and that much of what he has done is intended to point the way for other studies. All in all, an interesting read, but not a compelling book
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Starting with an analogy to individual crisis, Diamond argues that 12 factors determine how a nation responds to a crisis (mostly successfully; even the authoritarian coups he covers have their good sides, he thinks, especially since it’s unknowable whether you could’ve gotten the good—market-based economic reforms—without the bad, which does not seem like a reason to read history). The book did not cohere very well, but if you want capsule histories of big events in Chile, Japan, Indonesia, Finland, Germany, and Australia, and an overview of global warming and other challenges facing the US/the world, then I guess you could read this.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Diamond in the RoughAlbert Einstein spent the last half of his life trying to fit the universe into one elegant formula. He did not succeed. Jared Diamond is trying to do the same with national political crises in Upheaval. He has developed a list of 12 factors that show up in times of crisis at the nation level. The degree to which the nation deals with those factors (if at all) determines how successful it will likely be in dealing with it.The book exists at three levels: the individual, the nation and the world. The factors relating to their crises can be quite similar. The bulk of the book is on seven countries Diamond has had relationships with, having lived and/or worked in them. They are Indonesia, Japan, Germany, USA, Australia, Chile and Finland. They’re all different, and they all handled their crises differently. Some are still in crisis.A crisis is a serious challenge that cannot be solved by existing methods of coping, Diamond says. The examples include foreign invasion, internal revolution, evolving past previous bad policy, externalizing problems, and denial of problems.As for the US, Diamond sees it entering a crisis of identity and survival, riven by self-centered Americans who only care about themselves and today – right up to the top. Perspective, reflection and especially co-operation and compromise are absent from this crisis.These are Diamond’s 12 factors for national crises:1.National consensus that one’s nation is in crisis2.Acceptance of national responsibility to do something3.Building fence, to delineate the national problems needing to be solved4.Getting material and financial help from other nations5.Using other nations as models of how to solve the problems6.National identity7.Honest national self-appraisal8.Historical experience of previous national crises9.Dealing with national failure10.Situation-specific national flexibility11.National core values12.Freedom from geopolitical constraintsThe Chinese word weiji means crisis. It component characters are wei for danger and ji for opportunity. As in many clouds have silver linings. The example he gives first is Finland’s stunningly rapid industrialization when faced with $300M in war reparations after negotiating peace with the invading Soviet Union. Finland only had four million people at the time.Things get dicier at the global level. Looking forward to potential crises like nuclear winter and climate change, Diamond’s model shows the nations of the world, and in particular the USA, are not set, ready or equipped to make the efforts the model stipulates to come out the other side of the crisis decently.The structure of the book is standardized: a lot of history, some insight from personal relationships, and how the historical crisis fits the parameters Diamond set out. Mostly, it’s a lot of international history; interesting, and probably new to most readers. By far the best chapter is the epilogue, where he tackles the real issues: do national leaders make a difference in crises, and do nations need a crisis to act, or can they anticipate. The answers are sometimes to all the questions. Diamond has created an interesting matrix for future study, but its application to the real world remains a question mark. It was a good exercise, but of indeterminate value.David Wineberg