1491 (Second Edition) by Charles C Mann

1491 (Second Edition) by Charles C Mann

NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A groundbreaking work of science, history, and archaeology that radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus in 1492--from "a remarkably engaging writer" (The New York Times Book Review).
 
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. The astonishing Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan had running water and immaculately clean streets, and was larger than any contemporary European city. Mexican cultures created corn in a specialized breeding process that it has been called man's first feat of genetic engineering. Indeed, 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.

Mann has published four prior books, including Noah's Choice: The Future of Endangered Species and The Second Creation, and is a correspondent for Science and The Atlantic Monthly. He has received prizes from the American Bar Association, the Margaret Sanger Foundation, the American Institute of Physics, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, among others. Sloan Foundation, for example. His work was chosen for inclusion in The Best American Science Writing 2003 and The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2003 anthologies. He resides in Amherst, Massachusetts, with his wife and children.