Changing the way indigenous American people are seen is raison d’être of the book. Normally referred to collectively as Indians, they are seen as passive recipients of circumstance rather than people who take actions to change the situation. A collection of new evidence is putting into doubt many previous ideas about the history of American Indians. Not only is there evidence of many more people in North and South continents, but they were there far earlier than previously considered. Art, knowledge, environment change, and political intrigue are all part of the Indian history. The problem is that this history and much of the people vanished due to disease and subjugation. Those who came after did not know the rich history. Astonishing discoveries are bringing about a change in the perception of Indian history.

Much of the history of indigenous American peoples comes from contact with Europeans as many indigenous peoples did not have writing. The information is skewed to the perspective of the Europeans who saw the indigenous people rather than the actual ways that indigenous people expressed themselves. Source information usually had an agenda that was not conducive to empathetic description of indigenous understandings. Although the book is dedicated to American people’s pre-European contact, post contact history is also expressed in order to highlight the difference between the views held and to show behavior in reaction to stressful situations. From comparative analysis of armed conflict to hygiene, the author tries to recognize appropriate similarities and differences from each side’s perspective.

In some early contacts, Indian groups allied with the Europeans to defend or defeat other Indian groups. Jamestown survived due to Indian charity. At war, Indians were formidable adversaries winning many battles. Guns were a disconcerted sight initially, but the lack of practical use made them slightly more than noisemakers. Germs gave the Europeans the greatest advantage, at the cost of depopulating Indian territories. Many sites were whipped out without direct European contact because diseases spread between the Indian societies. Indians were sensitive to the diseases because they did not have immunity to the diseases as the land did not have many species of animals from which the viruses arise. Many Indian societies created their own advantages death of leadership due to diseases by moving into the power vacuum which precipitated in infighting. When germs or fragmentation did not impact an Indian society, they were able to defend themselves against the Europeans repeatedly.

Many societies such as the Inka not only did not have currency, but also had no markets. Rather than creating a dearth of supplies, the Spanish were surprised at the surplus. Warehouses overflowing with food and other resources. Kin and government directed the flow of resources. Apparently, no one went hungry. As Mann explains, those who held the over supplied coffers showed off their prestige and plenty. The Indians did have metals but rather than use them for tools, they were used to express social standing and affiliations.

Certain Indian societies did have writing which in some was compulsory to everyone. Intellectual pursuits included writing, astronomy, and mathematics. Reading was a necessary skill to read the ritual scripts which accompanies public deaths. Much like public executions in the West, Indian societies executed their slaves, criminals, and prisoners of war. The sacrifices were needed for moral combat against evil.

Political leaders were considered divine and irreplaceable. Rather than eliminate the rulers, the victors tried to make them vassals. If the leaders died, the victors usually left, leaving behind political problems with succession that lasted many decades. It was more common for different states to join by marriage rather than military coercion. Although there was sex separation in social domains, they were not subordinate to the other. Socially, Indians believed that certain individuals can wield more-than-human power given the right circumstance which is why they were not surprised that strangers like Europeans existed and why Indians were reluctant to try kill the European’s immediately as they may have had supernatural powers.

Indians societies did perish pre-contact with Europeans. As Mann states, Maya overshot the carrying capacity of the environment. Overshooting may have been the catalyst, but it was political failure to find solutions to environment problems which caused social disintegration.

The book is generally well-written and does contain many drastic perspective changes, but there were many parts which were not conducive to understanding the topic. Written in a format that highlights the complexity of understanding Indian history rather than giving pretense to any given theory. New evidence did change how Indian societies are seen, but there are different explanations and details which are given their due. The problem with the writing is that sometimes the tangents and similes make it difficult to understand the context. Sometimes the external examples work, sometimes they do not, there are certainly too many as they break the flow of reading.

The vanishing of many Indian cultures is a great loss to world philosophies, ideas, and stories. The few Indian cultures that survived the contact with Europeans had a profound impact on thoughts regarding freedom and health. Many Indian products were valued more in quality than the comparative European products. Indian history is important in understanding possible futures to present problems and consequences of various policies. Their history provides for a diverse understanding of ideas.
( )

The abridged audio of this (11 1/4 hours on 9 CD's) is read by Peter Johnson.

You thought everyone that was in America before Columbus came from Asia, arriving via a trek across the Bering Straight, that American Indians learned about land development from Europeans, and that relatively few American Indians ever lived on this continent prior to the arrival of Columbus? Charles C. Mann tells us about the new generation of researchers who assert that these teachings and others are Myths—that the American Indians arrived long before glaciers melted to reveal a land bridge, that untold numbers of Indians probably died from diseases brought over by the Europeans and their livestock, and that the “wild” landscape Thoreau lamented man’s invasion of, was itself engineered by man.
At any rate, this is an interesting description of the ways that America’s past has become a controversial issue.
( )

When Columbus arrived in the Western Hemisphere, it was a nearly empty land with only a handful of people who hadn’t been there that long and had not done much in that time, right? 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann shatters narrative we learned in high school textbooks.

Throughout the book Mann tackled the familiar talking points, if not myths, of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus and continual European contact. Over the course of 414 pages of text, Mann goes over the findings of scientists from multiple disciplines that reveal that at the time of contact the Americas were a highly populated area with numerous complex societies that had developed longer than previously thought and in a different way than those in the Old World. Yet it was how Native Americans shaped the land of both continents and all environments—especially the Amazon basin—that really made this a must read as Mann went into detail about the finds scientists had found. While Mann explored all these new finds, he does present the minority opinions among scientists who have issues with them yet the amount of evidence supporting this new conscious is very convincing. There might be comparisons with Jared Diamond and while Mann does mention some of Diamond points that he agrees with, but some of the evidence he presented refutes other of Diamond’s points though Mann never actually says anything to that affect. The one issue I had with the book was all the mistakes that a proofreader should have taken care of, especially since I was reading a second edition that Mann had added more content to.

1491 is a fascinating look into the Americas before continual European contact and the picture Charles C. Mann reveal through new scientific findings—at the time of publication—that do not look like what high school textbooks said they did. ( )

There are enough engrossing passages in this to keep you going but it frequently bogs down in nitty arguments between archaeologists that no one but themselves could possibly care about. I learned a hell of a lot though, so it was worth it. ( )

A must for anyone interested in American anthropology. It emphasizes the control exerted over the environment by early Americans. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on the changes in fauna, though it was too short. The appendices were all very interesting as well ( )