Syllabus
GUNS, GERMS & STEEL
Summer 2001

instructors:Ron McCoy, Ph.D.
office - Plumb Hall 411
phone - 316-341-5538
e-mail - mccoyron@emporia.edu

Dwight Moore, Ph.D.
office - Science Hall 144
phone - 316-341-5611
email - mooredwi@emporia.edu

section: GB 759 A or AH 722 A or WH 722 A
11 June 2001 through 28 June 2001: 1:00 to 4:20, Monday through Thursday: Science Hall 156

text:Diamond, J. 1999. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. W.W. Norton & Company. 480pp ISBN:0393317552

I. course description

This interdisciplinary course uses GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL as the starting point for examining the so-called "Rise of the West" in terms of a "positive feedback loop"-history, demography, ecological happenstance, animal domestication, crop development, information flow, and resistance to diseases.
In the Pulitzer Prize-winning GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL, UCLA physiologist Jared Diamond tries to answer a question posed to him by Yali, a New Guinea tribesman: "Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo [Western civilization's material goods] but we have so little cargo of our own?"
GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL, a controversial book that has provoked considerable discussion, is a critically acclaimed work. "The New York Times Book Review" described it as "ambitious, highly important." "The New Yorker" noted: "The scope and explanatory power of this book are astonishing." Professor William H. McNeill, author of the classic PLAGUES AND PEOPLE wrote: "There is nothing like a radically new angle of vision for bringing out unsuspected dimensions of a subject and that is what Jared Diamond has done."
The course can be taken for 3 hours of graduate credit through either biology (GB 759 A) or history (AH 722 A or WH 722 A).

II. course organization

This course will be team taught by Ron McCoy from Social Sciences and Dwight Moore from Biological Sciences. Both instructors will be present for each class period. In general, each class period will have information presented as either lecture by the instructors or as class discussion among the students and instructors. Your participation in the discussion is an important part of the class and therefore attendance is very important.

III. grading:

There will be two examinations during the course (see class schedule). The exams will be given as overnight take-home exams and will be due at 4:00 PM on the due date. Your score on these two exams will make up 85% of your grade. The other 15% of your grade will be based on your class participation. Class participation will consist of entering into the class discussion and contributing your knowledge and thoughts to the topic at hand.

We realize that several of you are commuting for some distance and on test dates you would only need to show up on campus to turn in the answers to the examination. If you wish you may submit your answers via e-mail. You may submit your answers as either WordPefect or Word attachments or embedded within the body of an e-mail message (probably the safest way). However if you think that you are going to use this option, then you should submit a "test" file several days before to ensure that your system is compatible with that of the instructors. If you are using Hotmail as your e-mail provider, you will need to set your e-mail properties to "plain text only" otherwise we can not print your messages and ultimately grade your examination answers. All such submissions should go to Dwight Moore at mooredwi@emporia.edu. You will lose 10% of your grade for every day or part of a day that your answers to the examinations are late.

Grades will be assigned based upon the following percentages.

A  = 92.0% to 100%
A-  = 89.0% to 91.9%
B+  = 86.0% to 88.9%
B  = 83.0% to 85.9%
B-  = 79.0% to 82.9%
C+  = 76.0% to 78.9%
C  = 70.0% to 75.9%
D  = 60.0% to 69.9%
F < 60.0%

IV. academic dishonesty:

Any student who permits another student to use his/her work (except where expressly permitted) will get a zero on the assignment. Finally, any copying or other forms of cheating during a test will result in a zero on that exam. The Chair of Social Sciences and Biological Sciences will be informed of all acts of academic dishonesty and the action taken against the offender. Be sure to review the Policies on Academic Dishonesty of Emporia State University and the Department of Biological Sciences.

Tentative Schedule
DateReading Assignment
for discussion at the
next class period		pages
11 JunPrologue
Chapter 1		1 - 52
12 JunChapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4		53 - 90
13 JunChapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7		93 - 130
14 JunChapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10		131 - 192
18 JunChapter 11
Chapter 12		193 - 238
19 Jun
20 JunExam I (pages 1 - 238)
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
239 - 292
21 JunChapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18		293 - 375
25 JunChapter 19
epilogue		376 - 426
26 Jun
27 Junfinal thoughts
28 JunExam II1 - 426

Last updated on 11 June 2001.
Provide comments to Dwight Moore at mooredwi@emporia.edu.
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