At 89, Jared Diamond Asks When Leaders Truly Matter in "Profits, Prophets, Coaches, and Kings"
LOS ANGELES — "Profits, Prophets, Coaches, and Kings: (When) Do Leaders Matter?," the new book by Jared Diamond, professor emeritus of geography at UCLA and a Pulitzer Prize winner, was published in the United States by Mariner Books on September 1, 2026, with a British edition from Allen Lane. UCLA Magazine featured the book in its Fall 2026 issue, and the UCLA Newsroom highlighted it again in its October 14 daily digest.
In the book, Diamond turns his career-long interest in large historical questions to the role of the individual: how much do particular leaders actually change the course of events, and when would much the same outcome have occurred anyway? Working through cases from four realms — history and politics, business, sport and religion — he applies what he calls the "Hamlet test," asking whether events would have unfolded in much the same way without the person in question. His subjects include Seretse Khama, the founding president of Botswana; environmentalist Rachel Carson; legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden; and football coach Bill Belichick. As Diamond has summarized his argument in interviews, geographic and environmental factors dominate long-term, large-scale historical patterns, while individual leaders exert their greatest influence over shorter-term, smaller-scale outcomes, and whether a leader proves decisive depends on identifiable conditions.
Diamond was born on September 10, 1937, and turned 89 shortly after the book appeared. He joined UCLA in 1968, serving first as a professor of physiology and later as a professor of geography. His 1997 book "Guns, Germs, and Steel" won the Pulitzer Prize, and he is a recipient of the U.S. National Medal of Science. His other books include "Collapse" and "Upheaval."
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 贾雷德·戴蒙德演讲照（资料图）。HiraV／Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 3.0
