To support his analysis with real-world examples, Diamond investigates past crises that have hit such countries as Finland, Japan, Chile, Indonesia, Germany, Australia, and the United States.

Ignore also his correct but unsurprising musings about the dangerous threats facing humanity (nuclear weapons, climate change, resource depletion and inequality).

Instead, let this experienced observer with an uncanny eye for the small details that reveal larger truths take you on an expedition around the world and through fascinating pivotal moments in seven countries.

"[5] Colin Kidd of The Guardian wrote, "Diamond's methods—drawing direct parallels between personal and national trauma, and between the psychology of individuals and character of nations—are not those practised by historians, who tend to emphasise the particularity of circumstance and the intricate unrepeatability of events.

Diamond nonetheless plots in counterpoint the various predicaments he discusses, alert, in as non-deterministic a mode as he can manage, to the open textures of historical possibility.