1491

In this groundbreaking work on science, history, and archaeology, Mann radically alters our view of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus. Contrary to what many Americans learn in school, the pre-Columbian Indians did not sparsely settle in a virgin desert, rather there were a large number of Indians who actively shaped and influenced the land around them. The amazing Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán had running water and impeccably clean streets and was larger than any contemporary European city. Mexican cultures created corn in a specialized breeding process that is considered man's first feat of genetic engineering. Indeed, the Indians were engineering and manipulating their world in ways that we are only now beginning to understand. With a challenging and surprising look at a rich and fascinating world we thought we knew, Mann unravels the methods used to arrive at these new visions of pre-Columbian America and how they affect our conception of history and our understanding of the environment.