Charles C. Mann

Describes how recent archaeological research has transformed long-held myths about the Americas, revealing far older and more advanced cultures with a greater population than were previously thought to have existed.

New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

1491

An analysis of America prior to 1492 describes how the research of archaeologists and anthropologists has transformed myths about the Americas, revealing that the cultures were far older and more advanced than previously known.

Mikayla Nickell

Cody Degen

decent overall, and it definitely had some good factoids, but I think that the author gets a bit over his skis at times (comparison of firepower between the old and New World, philosophy, extent to which Iroquois government inspired American democracy, etc.). it also may be a fact of the current understanding of current topics, but I found it frustrating to have him introduce one theory for a certain topic, then debunk that theory and offer an alternative theory, and then not come to a conclusion. Given how often the author shares his beliefs elsewhere it was jarring when he wouldn't do it here, where it probably would've been most useful

Andrew John Kinney

There is plenty of interesting information in this book, especially for those not already aware of the near extermination of native Americans by diseases, mainly smallpox, introduced by European explorers. The fact that native Americans had large cities in Amazonia and elsewhere should really not surprise us, since there were large cities in other tropical areas, like Angkor Wat, but it is not the history most of us learned in school. It was also interesting to me that Anna Roosevelt, Theodore's grand-daughter played a key part in establishing that cities did exist in Amazonia, since I am endlessly fascinated by TR, and because he led an early, epic, and nearly fatal expedition to the Amazon. But once the main ideas have been laid down in the book, it drags, in my opinion. It seems the author was looking for ways to fill pages after a certain point, and this kind of writing where original points are repeated, perhaps amplified, but nothing new presented, wears me down. Hence the three star review, which is maybe a bit harsh, but honestly by the last third of the book I was simply waiting for it to end, even though the first half was relatively interesting.

Yasser Yahia

I liked how the book is shedding lights on many topics and angles that you wouldn't usually find in the mainstream when it comes to the native Americans and how they built their own civilization in isolation from the rest of the world, yet I couldn't help being bored by the repetitive paragraphs over and over again.

Also, I didn't like how the author insists on comparing civilizations! You can highlight how a civilization is great without putting it in comparison with another civilization to undermine it. Especially if your claim lacks evidence

Jeni Enjaian

This book would be a great aid to insomniacs...the audiobook version at least. The narrator chosen for this book was horrible. His pronunciation and syntax both suffered mightily through the reading of this book. I think that also colored my opinion of the book in general. 
The book appears to have no orienting focus. I may have missed the logical transitions between different eras and locations because I was not engaged in the audiobook. In he long term, this meant that I really didn't care how the book was drawn to a close. 
One thing that I did notice was that at times, the author appeared to propose a popular assumption, disprove the theory, propose another, disprove that by saying that the original proposal might have been true. Way too confusing.

1491 New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

Reviews

Highlights