emperor Atahuallpa did not capture King Charles I of Spain -- Farmer power: the roots of guns, germs & steel -- History's haves & have-nots: geographic differences in the onset of food production -- To farm or not to farm: causes of the spread of food production -- How to make an almond: the unconscious development of ancient crops -- Apples or Indians: why did peoples of some regions fail to domesticate plants? -- Zebras, unhappy marriages & the Anna Karenina principle: why were most big wild mammal species never domesticated? -- Spacious skies & tilted axes: why did food production spread at different rates on different continents? Lethal gift of livestock: the evolution of germs -- Blueprints & borrowed letters: the evolution of writing -- Necessity's mother: the evolution of technology -- From egalitarianism to kleptocracy: the evolution of government & religion -- Yali's people: the histories of Australia & New Guinea -- How China became Chinese: the history of East Asia -- Speedboat to Polynesia: the history of the Austronesian expansion -- Hemispheres colliding: the histories of Eurasia & the Americas compared -- How Africa became black: the history of Africa -- The future of human history as a science.

"An enquiry into the reasons why Europe & the Near East became the cradle of modern societies ... & why, until modern times, Africa, Australasia & the Americas lagged behind in technological sophistication & in political & military power ... argues that the inequality stems from the differing natural resources available to the people of each continent"--Jacket.