Prophets, Coaches, and Kings

From the author of?the Pulitzer Prize-winning, multimillion-copy bestselling classic Guns, Germs and Steel,? a landmark study of leadership across politics, religion, business, and sports—seeking to decode how and why leaders matter. Can one person change the world? In his acclaimed and influential books Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse, Jared Diamond transformed our understanding of what makes civilizations rise and fall. Now, in Prophets, Coaches and Kings, he studies leaders throughout time to answer the question: do the actions of individuals truly influence history? Or is humanity subject to larger historical, technological, cultural, geographical forces, far beyond the influence of individuals, no matter how powerful they may seem? On 13 March 1930, a truck sped into an intersection, headed straight for another car’s right front door. The passenger of this chauffeur-driven car happened to be Adolf Hitler. If the truck had hit the door, Hitler would have been crushed and killed