Library: Professional Development Committee: February 2020 PD Day

PD Day Schedule Feb. 28, 2020

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
Call Number: HM206 .D48 1997
Publication Date: 1999
"Fascinating.... Lays a foundation for understanding human history."--Bill Gates In this "artful, informative, and delightful" (William H. McNeill, New York Review of Books) book, Jared Diamond convincingly argues that geographical and environmental factors shaped the modern world. Societies that had had a head start in food production advanced beyond the hunter-gatherer stage, and then developed religion --as well as nasty germs and potent weapons of war --and adventured on sea and land to conquer and decimate preliterate cultures. A major advance in our understanding of human societies, Guns, Germs, and Steel chronicles the way that the modern world came to be and stunningly dismantles racially based theories of human history. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science, the Rhone-Poulenc Prize, and the Commonwealth club of California's Gold Medal.

For more information on gentrification and neocolonialism, see the Gentrification library research guide.

Suggested keywords:

Jane Jacobs: Urban Wisdom.
more...less...
Through her groundbreaking books, Jane Jacobs has influenced the planning and understanding of cities and economies with what she calls a “web way of thinking.” In this program, Jacobs shares her insights into urban planning by tracing the progression of ideas in her books, including The Death and Life of Great American Cities; The Economy of Cities; Cities and the Wealth of Nations; Systems of Survival; and her most recent, The Nature of Economies. An extended interview with Jacobs is blended with scenes from various North American cities and footage of her 1997 seminar, “Ideas That Matter.” (45 minutes)
Africa: In Defiance of Democracy.
Chicago Undertakes Urban Renewal Projects in the 1960s
Revolution ‘67.
Back to the Movement 1979–Mid 1980s: Eyes on the Prize—America’s Civil Rights Movement 1954–1985.
more...less...
Power and powerlessness. Miami’s black community—pummeled by urban renewal, a lack of jobs, and police harassment— explodes in rioting. But in Chicago, an unprecedented grassroots movement triumphs. Frustrated by decades of unfulfilled promises made by the city’s Democratic political machine, reformers install Harold Washington as Chicago’s first black mayor.