1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
RECOMMENDED
by Charles C. Mann
Presenting the latest research by biologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians, Mann shows how the post-Columbian network of ecological and economic exchange fostered the rise of Europe, devastated imperial China, convulsed Africa, and for two centuries made Mexico City—where Asia, Europe, and the new frontier of the Americas dynamically interacted—the center of the world. In this history, Mann uncovers the germ of today’s fiercest political disputes, from immigration to trade policy to culture wars. In 1493, Mann has again given readers an eye-opening scientific interpretation of our past, unequaled in its authority and fascination.
Description
A New York Times Notable Book
A TIME Magazine Best Book of the Year
A Washington Post Notable Book
“Fascinating. . . . Lively. . . . A convincing explanation of why our world is the way it is.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Even the wisest readers will find many surprises here. . . . Like 1491, Mann’s sequel will change worldviews.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“Exemplary in its union of meaningful fact with good storytelling, 1493 ranges across continents and centuries to explain how the world we inhabit came to be.” —The Washington Post
“Engaging . . . Mann deftly illuminates contradictions on a human scale: the blind violence and terror at Jamestown, the cruel exploitation of labor in the silver mines of Bolivia, the awe felt by Europeans upon first seeing a rubber ball bounce.” —The New Yorker
