Native American Democracy, 1491 turns received wisdom on its head

[HysteryDiagnosis]

http://www.amazon.com/1491-Revelations-Americas-Before-Columbus/dp/1400032059/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273416051&sr=8-12

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51lzSEmUD6L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. In a riveting and fast-paced history, massing archeological, anthropological, scientific and literary evidence, Mann debunks much of what we thought we knew about pre-Columbian America. Reviewing the latest, not widely reported research in Indian demography, origins and ecology, Mann zestfully demonstrates that long before any European explorers set foot in the New World, Native American cultures were flourishing with a high degree of sophistication. The new researchers have turned received wisdom on its head. For example, it has long been believed the Inca fell to Pizarro because they had no metallurgy to produce steel for weapons. In fact, scholars say, the Inca had a highly refined metallurgy, but valued plasticity over strength. What defeated the Inca was not steel but smallpox and resulting internecine warfare. Mann also shows that the Maya constructed huge cities and governed them with a cohesive set of political ideals. Most notably, according to Mann, the Haudenosaunee, in what is now the Northeast U.S., constructed a loose confederation of tribes governed by the principles of individual liberty and social equality. The author also weighs the evidence that Native populations were far larger than previously calculated. Mann, a contributor to the Atlantic Monthly and Science, masterfully assembles a diverse body of scholarship into a first-rate history of Native America and its inhabitants. 56 b&w photos, 15 maps.

[DrCory]

1. One of my favorite "reads".

Very well written, engaging, and though provoking

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

5. Why the quotes?

[SpiralHawk]

2. Olde Native Prophecy

"Someday republicon sockpuppet teabagging clowns will invade America, and with their overpaid chickenhawk corporate media propaganda pimps they will attempt to turn Turtle Island into a pee-wee minded totalitarian Homeland, complete with mouth-breathing torture freaks, and Tax Cuts for the Wealthiest. Beware these wide-stance, diaper-clad, luggage-handling Family Values eVil dOerS."

- SpiralSquawk

[riverwalker]

3. on my must read list n/t

[Gaedel]

4. Paper back announcement

The hard cover edition came out a few years back. It is a really interesting read. We always assume that the eeeeevul Europeans came in with tanks, machineguns, and bombers and wiped out the poor Indians living in sustainable, ecologically pure communities. It is really hard for us to grasp the truly devastating effects that small pox, diptheria, mumps, measles, and whooping cough have on a "virgin" population. In Europe and Asia, these diseases had been relegated to "childhood" diseases where a kid either survived or died 9and kids are easily replaceable (in the economic sense). Even children acquired some degree of immunity to these diseases from their mother's milk. With a virgin population, the diseases wipe out the adult breeding population with disastrous demographic effects. Get a copy of "Plagues and Peoples" by McNeil for a good read on the effects of communicable disease on world history.

[RadicalTexan]

6. My boyfriend and I chose this book at City Lights on our recent trip to SF

And spent the rest of our trip reading it in coffee shops and cafes.

LOVE it. Highly recommended. It made me want to become an anthropologist.

[tabasco]

7. Thanks for the post.

I'm going to get a copy.

[EstimatedProphet]

8. Look at the Mississippian civilization

Centered along the banks of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, the Mississippian civilization had trading routes that extended into South America and the Arctic.

But they didn't have gunpowder, so they were ignorant savages. Long live white people.

[Strelnikov_]

9. Thanks. Must read.

It's posts like this that make wading through . . . worthwhile.