https://livewire.thewire.in/politics/racism-and-covid-19-remembering-guns-germs-and-steel/

I’ve always wanted to read Guns, Germs, and Steel, and I finally started. The preface to the paperback edition starts off with “I’m not a racist” and I was like, “Hold up.”

Off to Google. “Is guns germs and steel racist?” I guess not, but also: exercise care here. A book that says “we were just lucky” might (a) be wrong, and (b) not even touching on the morality of treating the Other poorly. (I don’t know, I haven’t read it yet. I did read this article, though: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/08/03/guns-germs-and-steel-reconsidered.)

But I also found another fascinating article (essay, I guess) on the racism associated with accusations that the Third World is responsible for all the world’s plagues, with bonus asides about non-white racism. So here it is.