Short description
Mann offers a groundbreaking study that radically alters readers' understanding of the Americas before the arrival of the Europeans in 1492.
Long description
In this groundbreaking work of science, history, and archaeology, Charles C. Mann radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus in 1492.
Contrary to what so many Americans learn in school, the pre-Columbian Indians were not sparsely settled in a pristine wilderness; rather, there were huge numbers of Indians who actively molded and influenced the land around them. From the astonishing Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán, which had running water, immaculately clean streets, and was larger than any contemporary European city, to the Mexican corn that was so carefully created in a specialized breeding process that it has been called man's first feat of genetic engineering, Indians were not living lightly on the land but were landscaping and manipulating their world in ways that we are only now beginning to understand. Challenging and surprising, this a transformative new look at a rich and fascinating world we only thought we knew.
Review
Engagingly written and utterly absorbing... part detective story, part epic and part tragedy. - The Miami Herald
Provocative... a Jared Diamond-like volley that challenges prevailing thinking about global development. Mann has chronicled an important shift in our vision of world development, one out young children could end up studying in their text books when they reach junior high. - San Francisco Chronicle
Marvelous... a revelation... our concept of pure wilderness untouched by grubby human hands must now be jettisoned. - The New York Sun
Monumental....Mann slips in so many fresh, new interpretations of American history that it all adds up to a deeply subversive work. - Salon
Concise and brilliantly entertaining... reminiscent of John McPhee's eloquence with scientific detail. - The Los Angeles Times