Book Review Outside Reading: October 10

Book Review Outside Reading

“There Goes the Neighborhood” by Gregg Easterbrook

The New York Times January 30, 2005

            “There Goes the Neighborhood” by Gregg Easterbrook offers a mixed review of Jared Diamond’s Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.  Easterbrook is very complimentary of Diamond and his intellect and dedication, but he also points out the flaws of Diamond’s argument.  By deconstructing Collapse, Easterbrook leaves his reader wondering how accurate Diamond’s argument really is.

            In reviewing this book, Easterbrook employs a blend of New Historicist and Biographical Criticisms.  Easterbrook begins by discussing Diamond’s background and how his education in particular may have influenced Collapse.  Diamond himself is a professor of geography at the University of California, Los Angeles, and he therefore is well versed in obscure islands and the societies that once existed there.  Easterbrook is quick to point this out, because most of the places that Diamond analyzes are remote islands.  This book review also looks at Diamond’s initial specialization, which was conservation biology.  Diamond spent a lot of time studying in New Guinea and other Pacific Islands, which continually appear in his book.  Interestingly however, Easterbrook also finds a discrepancy between Diamond’s book and Diamond’s education.  Diamond also studied evolution, but Easterbrook points out that Diamond is slow to analyze the evolutionary capability of the world today.

            Easterbrook’s argument is very well organized.  He adopts a very clear voice and is able to piece together a logical string of claims that easily convince the reader that Diamond’s arguments may in fact be fallacies.  This construction is a great strength of Easterbrook’s.  However, Easterbrook often lets his analysis wander and occasionally spends more time discussing Diamond’s book rather that critiquing it.  This weakness is minimal though, because his claims are so well crafted and supported.

            Easterbrook also employs diction in his attempt to persuade his audience.  His word choice is very sophisticated and he constructs a lot of compound sentences that ultimately create an academic tone throughout his review.  This tone helps to establish the validity of his argument because the reader is quick to trust such a refined review.  By praising Diamond’s strengths and cautiously pointing out his defects, Easterbrook is able to carefully guide his reader through his work and lead them to the conclusion that Diamond’s work actually is fundamentally flawed.

            Overall, Easterbrook constructs a concise argument that challenges the ideas and beliefs that Diamond’s construes in Collapse.  By employing New Historicist and Biographical criticism in addition to carefully choosing his language, Easterbrook creates a sound argument that is difficult to contend with.