Collapse Book Review Samples

The situation of the Dominican Republic and Haiti represents effects nature and man has on economic and political stability. Nowadays, the Dominican Republic is believed to be more developed and economically successful despite the fact that it had been annexed by Haiti for 22 years of its history. According to the author’s point of view there are a few explanations to this outcome. Part of the answer lies within the domain of environmental differences. The climate is milder and more harvest-friendly on the Dominican part. Haiti used its forests and soils to burs agricultural wealth and now only 1% of its territory is covered in forests. Among other reasons, Diamond mentions social and political differences. Haiti used to be the richest French colony where metropolis invested money and sent slaves. Santo Domingo was abandoned Spanish colony. Higher population density and lower rainfall led to more rapid deforestation and soil fertility loss on the Haitian side. However, later less developed Santo Domingo won from being abandoned. The Dominican part became more attractive and more receptive to European immigrants. This led to investment and growth increase. Political instability followed both countries, but the Dominican Republic managed to end it sooner. It understood the importance of foreign trade and international relations, while the Haitians remained to be more concerned about owing their own land and non-interference of any foreigner into their possessions. Those who led two nations also had different aspirations. Nowadays, the development of the Dominican part and Haitian decline is itself a reason for further worsening of the situation on the island.
Consequently, chapter 11 tells us about the impact of environment and man on the destiny of civilization. Those things that once were considered to lead to progress appeared regressive with a passing of time. This chapter proves the relation between economic prosperity and decline with the environmental, social and political conditions that relates it with the topics of our course.

References

Diamond, J. (2005). Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. New York: Penguin Group.