He tells of the failure of the Norse Vikings on Greenland and Vinland while the Inuit succeeded there.
The fate of two other Polynesian Islands – Pitcairn and Henderson – also failed for apparently similar problems.ĭiamond also describes the downfall of the Anasazi society and the collapses of the Maya culture that was advanced in many ways. Why did the islanders carve hundreds of huge stone statues, and beyond that how did they move the statues some of which weighed nearly one-hundred tons? They had to be bright and resourceful to accomplish feats that seem impossible, but why did their society advance and why did they vanish? Like other failed cultures, they depleted their woodlands, ruined their soil and water and were unable to meet the food demands of a growing population. This is a recipe for success in the face of disaster, a recipe that most of the accounts Diamond shares in his book chose to ignore. It’s about choices made and anticipating problems, recognizing them, finding solutions and fixing the problem. If Montana is experiencing such dire threats to its societies, how could these huge advanced population centers be faring?ĭiamond then tells the story of societies of old and how many failed although some, facing the some conditions and environmental concerns, were able to succeed. Extrapolating Montana’s issues to large urban areas like Los Angeles, New York City or London the unstated comparison is obvious. Secondly, Diamond uses Montana as an example of a state in a first world nation because it is small and has a low population. First, Montana is suffering from the same environmental woes as did the failing societies of antiquity. Diamond purposely offers the story of Montana to wake the readers up on two facts that cannot be ignored. Why Montana? Montana is a geographically large state with a small population.
Diamond begins his work with a look at Montana. In Collapse – How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond examines societies of the past and how they addressed the great challenges they were faced with in surviving severe and long-term damage to the environment, damage that was usually out of negligence or ignorance, brought on by the societies themselves.
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