One critic of Jared Diamonds work wrote:
“Like a Victorian moralist, Diamond lauds what he considers advances and warns of decline. His notions of virtuous leaders and societal courage are reminiscent of those of Gibbon and Toynbee, two historians who bracketed the Victorian era” (Joseph Tainter 2005).

Diamond often refers to history as a race that has been won by Europe. For example, the first chapter is called To the starting line. Is Diamond just another unilineal evolutionist, like Augustine of Hippo, E.B. Tylor and L.H. Morgan, or does he avoid their mistakes? Does Diamond make a contribution with Guns, Germs, and Steel or is it an over-generalized just-so story? Justify your answer by discussing culture change and theories of unilineal evolution