> On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 7:44 PM, Dissenting Wren <dissentingwren at yahoo.com
> >wrote:
>
> Alfred Crosby, Ecological Imperialism
> > William H. McNeill, Plagues and Peoples
> > William H. McNeill, The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force, and
> > Society
> > since A.D. 1000
>
> And their contents? From glancing at Wikipedia entries, it seems like the
> first two of these merely flesh out the "how" knowledge I already have
> concerning the historical impact of infectious diseases, without addressing
> the "why" questions Diamond aspires to answer. What do they offer beyond
> that? And I can't find as much on that particular volume by McNeill. What's
> his big thesis?
>
So your argument, now, is that ecomaterial conditions determined diseases as well as culture and technology, the determinates of historical innovation and dominance? Human collective agency be damned! It is all nature! Forces determine relations! Bases determine superstructures! All we need to understand history and the future is natural science... but make sure to exclude all natural science that has anything whatsoever to do with contingency, or contingency <--> spandrels, if you know what I mean.
What's the material/ecological foundation of your politics? or is it just more of that lame-ass, girly, humanitarian and soft science weeniedom? (That's your guy talkin', not me. I don't believe that most people actually accept this stuff once they start thinking about it all that much.) I guess you could argue that a politics/ethics of responsibility for the power you and other residents of the temperate West gained directly from their blessed environments is important but that's not rooted in rocks and trees and birds and machines and things so its just weak.
You could read additional critical comment on Diamond by Brad Delong with/through Tim Burke: http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2005/07/tim_burke_criti.html