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Wiseley is resolving the current published collection from the catalog.
How Humanity Got Here
Compare ambitious and sometimes conflicting accounts of human history, social development, violence, prosperity, and progress.
Books in this collection
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Sapiens asks how an unremarkable ape became the dominant human species—and whether rising collective power improved individual life. It traces the Cognitive, Agricultural, and Scientific Revolutions through shared fictions, money, empire, religion, capitalism, and industry, then weighs modern progress against happiness, ecological cost, and the prospect of redesigning humanity.
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Why did some human societies gain farming, states, writing, germs, and steel earlier than others? This summary follows the book’s environmental explanation from human settlement and domestication through disease, technology, conquest, and regional comparisons, while separating broad historical patterns from cultural contingency and unresolved questions.
