A NEW book by Jared Diamond should be something of an occasion, and Upheaval is unlikely to disappoint, especially in our turbulent times. Diamond won a huge global following with Guns, Germs and Steel (1997) and Collapse (2005), when he drew on ecology, evolutionary biology, anthropology and geography to help us rethink the way we understand civilisations. Now his latest, Upheaval , is being touted as the final book in this trilogy.

This time, his mission is to reveal how nations …