An insightful book that recounts the accomplishments of the people who lived here before Columbus.

books:

	• 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus Charles C. Mann Vintage, 2006 - 541 pages average customer review:based on 240 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

An insightful book that recounts the accomplishments of the people who lived here before Columbus.

The author carefully documents his examination of what was once called "pre-history" in the Western Hemisphere. Every facet of life here is described in good detail. I recommend this book to any pre-Columbian history buff.

An interesting read

An interesting book that describes new insights into life in the Americas before Columbus arrived. The book is well written and full of interesting theories and findings from academic literature. Though, at times it is a bit dense with information, so not exactly light reading. Still overall well worth reading.

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A must-read for anyone interested in humankind.

I am finding it almost scary to attempt a comment about 1491 because it is, seriously, one of the most remarkable books I have ever read. I am a little numbed by the facts assembled by Mann and I have no doubt that wealth of scholarship will withstand any amount of counter argument. I admit I started this book months ago and it seemed that every new chapter I read, I was confronted by such a wealth of new material that it has taken me too long to attempt to digest all that I have read. No, I do not believe the one star criticisms of this fabulous compendium of current scholarship regarding aspects of the ancient history of pre-Columbian America.
As an example and I fully admit to being a modest general reader, I was amazed to read of the Beni in Bolivia. The simple existence of those undoubtedly constructed mounds attests to a technology for which we Westerners cannot even judge. Then skip to the last chapter and mind-wrestle with the idea that some scholars believe the Amazon Basin was tree planted to provide natural food for huge populations. Then deal with the idea of terra preta or manufactured soil; something our technology cannot approach.
I believe it was chapter six where Mann talked about corn; now who, certainly not me, has ever given corn a thought but he tells us that biologically it should not even exist because it needs human beings to propagate it. We in the West are so constipated with our own greatness that we cannot digest the breadth of other technology used by the peoples of the Western Hemisphere.
In this short comment how can I even deal with the extraordinary civilizations that grew around Lake Titicaca and made Peru as important as the Fertile Crescent or that the Inka Empire was territorially the largest in world history. My mind literally reeled from the bombardment of new material assembled by Mann. I leave this book with a completely new appreciation of all that was taking place in the Americas before Columbus. I am truly amazed and I, stupidly in hindsight, thought I knew a little about the human history of this rock we inhabit; but no, I only had a little of half the story and I thank Mann for correcting that vacuum slightly. Now I just have to remember all that he wrote.

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1491...

Shipping was slow although I do realize I am in Alaska and it is expected. I can't complain otherwise, the book was in great condition, and a good read. Thanks a lot; 4/5 from me! (I ordered from Hamilton Books, paperback)

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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.

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