The most ambitious book in that regard must be Guns, Germs, and Steel (http://amzn.to/2jKq9ku) by Jared Diamond. It aims to answer the question: "Why did Europeans end up killing/conquering/... American Indians, and not the other way around?
You'll find lots of people saying Diamond has been "debunked" but by that they mean "here's some criticism someone posted online". It's a remarkable work of analysis tracing the causes of human progress over thousands of years.
A differing opinion would be that he identified correlations. Both guns and steel stem from discoveries and inventions (e.g. gunpowder and smelting), not from physical resources unique to Europe.
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The most ambitious book in that regard must be Guns, Germs, and Steel (http://amzn.to/2jKq9ku) by Jared Diamond. It aims to answer the question: "Why did Europeans end up killing/conquering/... American Indians, and not the other way around?
You'll find lots of people saying Diamond has been "debunked" but by that they mean "here's some criticism someone posted online". It's a remarkable work of analysis tracing the causes of human progress over thousands of years.
A differing opinion would be that he identified correlations. Both guns and steel stem from discoveries and inventions (e.g. gunpowder and smelting), not from physical resources unique to Europe.
It goes much deeper than that. He'd next ask: where do discovery and invention come from?
For a different (and, for me, more convincing) perspective read 'Why Nations Fail' by Acemoglu and Robinson.
Came here just to say that book also. It's amazing. My favourite non-fiction book.