MixedThe Globe and Mail (CAN)Upheaval offers an intriguing drive-by tour of how seven countries have dealt with major challenges over the past century and a half. But full warning: It’s also a distinctly odd work—part history lesson, part memoir and part self-help manual ... I found Diamond’s discussion of Finland’s plight to be riveting, perhaps because I knew so little about the country ... But Diamond’s therapy-speak seems less convincing when he turns his attention to how Australia managed to leave behind its white British roots and become a multiethnic society with close ties to nearby Asian countries. That transition seems less like a crisis and more like a natural evolution of a prosperous, educated society ... The therapy approach is even less convincing when it comes to Chile’s restoration of democracy after the Pinochet years. Forget psychobabble ... Diamond’s attempt to explain national crises as enlarged versions of personal crises winds up working about as well as an attempt to go in the opposite direction and explain individual psychology in terms of national politics and economics. Many of his points seem only intermittently true ... Diamond’s self-help manual for nations is an entertaining read. But, like most self-help books, it seems more glib than profound.
