Upheaval: How Nations Cope with Crisis and Change

Upheaval: How Nations Cope with Crisis and Change is a 2019 nonfiction book by the American scientist and historian Jared Diamond. In it, Diamond attempts to analyze devastating crises—political, economic, civil, ecological and others—that may destroy whole countries, along with the many reasons that cause them.

To support his analysis with real-world examples, he investigates past crises that struck countries such as Finland, Japan, Chile, Indonesia, Germany, Australia and the United States. Diamond also explores how individuals learn to cope with personal traumas and whether these approaches can be applied to nations. His unexpected conclusion is that individuals do learn from crisis, but countries seldom do. He also concludes that in the United States, crises are getting worse.

The book received mixed reviews. Moisés Naím, writing in The Washington Post, argued that it leans too heavily on psychology, though he praised Diamond's storytelling. Colin Kidd, in The Guardian, noted that the author's method of drawing direct parallels between personal and national trauma departs from the practice of professional historians, but credited Diamond with avoiding determinism.