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Guns, Germs, and Steel - Chicago Humanities Festival

Lecture

Jared Diamond: Guns, Germs, and Steel Franke Lecture in Economics

Jared Diamond’s blockbuster Guns, Germs, and Steel won him a Pulitzer Prize and a place among the most influential thinkers of our time. His lecture of the same name takes audiences on an intellectual odyssey that challenges assumptions about the rise and fall of civilizations and highlights technology’s role in human history. Diamond’s books, and this lecture, brim with examples of how technology propelled progress in some societies much more quickly than in others; how humans domesticated animals and crops; and how regional weather patterns helped or hampered technological and societal progress. Diamond provides insight into how we have arrived at our place in history and where we may be going.

This annual lecture recognizes the significant contributions to the Chicago Humanities Festival made by its founder and chairman emeritus Richard J. Franke.

 

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Featured Profile

Glen W. Bowersock

Glen Bowersock is an authority on Greek, Roman, and Near Eastern history and culture as well as the classical tradition in modern literature. He uses his knowledge of classical texts in many languages, together with inscriptions, and archaeological remains, to draw unexpected and revelatory conclusions. He earned his A.B. summa cum laude from Harvard University (1957), another B.A. with First Class Honors in Literae humaniores from Oxford University (1959); and his master’s and Ph.D. also from Oxford.

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In Sickness and in Health

Humans are surprisingly feeble. We come down with a stunning variety of illnesses. And yet, we get better and better at cheating death.

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Lecture
The Book: Past, Present, and Future

Top 5 History Multimedia Favorites

  1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: The Body at its Finest
  2. An Incomplete History of Comedy in Hyde Park
  3. Torey Malatia: This American Laugh Radio Humor
  4. Mary Beard: What Made the Ancient Romans Laugh?
  5. David Kennedy: Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal A Visionary and His Vision
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