1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus.(Book review)

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

By Charles C. Mann

Alfred Knopf, New York: 2005

The history of American Indians I learned in school--to the extent that I learned anything at all--was so wildly off the mark that I might as well have made it up myself. Not only was it denigrating, condescending and picaresque, it was just plain wrong. So wrong, in fact, that you might think the miseducation was a deliberate part of the conquest.

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This massive ignorance continues a century after American Indians were vanquished. Extraterrestrial explanations of Indian ruins are still popular in the 21st century. Our schoolbook ancient history still emphasizes places like Egypt and Mesopotamia, even though we have a perfectly good, rich and fascinating history right here that goes back at least 10,000 years. And the dominant picture of American Indians rarely even allows the possibility that there's more to learn.

As it turns out, there is much more to learn. And a good place to start is with Charles C. Mann's new book. Unless this is your field of study, you're pretty sure to learn something about our newfound knowledge of pre-Columban civilizations in the New World. If you read the science pages of the newspaper, not all Mann's revelations will be wholly new, but his point, driven over and over again, is that European-American culture--both North and South American--is completely, blindly and adamantly ignorant of the continents they acquired.