The America Dream in Guns, Germs and Steel

My version of the American dream, as previously stated in my blog, is a life of personal happiness and material comfort as traditionally sought by individuals in the U.S.A. Jared Diamond’s book Guns, Germs and Steel: a short history of everybody for the last 4 million years, discusses detailed insights into the development of people all over the world. I found it quite interesting how most of these ancient people had the American dream instilled in them even if they didn’t know it.

The first humans were hunters and gatherers and owned very few possessions because that was just extra weight to carry. Their culture was minimal if almost nothing. The lives of the first humans were focused almost solely on just finding food. The American dream idea did not begin in ancient civilizations until agriculture started. When agriculture began to prosper, people stopped their nomadic way of life and settled down in one place. Time was put into building long term houses that would retain heat and shelter its resident from rain. Pelts were collected for sleeping arrangements and humans started to gather more belongings. This was the first sign of the American dream.

As time went on and farming practices grew more efficient, people gained larger amounts of leisure time. The creation of tools began and trade quickly followed. Art started and material goods gained value. Specialization of crafts now existed as well as the basic idea of jobs. You can see how the American dream existed as easily thousands of years ago as it does today. We are a far more advanced society than we were back then but people still searched for the basic idea of a house, job and a familyousands of yeayyearsas. Now that societies had been created they were bound to meet, and when they did, it would become a whole new race for the next best thing. People were now always looking for the best weapons or modes of transportation. When a society felt that their “American dream” was threatened, or another society had something of interest, they would not hesitate to go to war. Whether it’s now or 30,000 years ago, the American dream remains an ideal that is sought after by millions.