Really, really good. i can't pretend i could assess the quality of the history - although it certainly seems well researched and cited - but it's eye opening about the complexity of politics and human organisation and agriculture etc in the Americas before European invasion. goes through biology, anthropology, archaeology and history to talk about things like native American ways of maintaining land for food - showing up the falsity of the pristine wilderness myth- and the complex political interactions which helped European dominance in the early days. the European invasion is only talked about a little bit but as part of an attempt to restore history to native Americans - the invasion wasn't something that just happened, it was something that
different societies responded to in different ways and fought from the start while sometimes collaborating to win influence over their own enemies. he emphasises that many of the groups that were studied as proof of native American "noble savage" nature were the remnants of larger cultures ravaged by disease and attacked constantly by Europeans - this was not their "natural" state

i could quibble a bit over his politics (not radical enough and the coda is very American patriot, although he voices his support for returning native lands on a large scale - also feel he could maybe quote modern Indians more) and if i knew more about the subject I'm sure i could criticise more but for me it was a fascinating, perspective changing book about something i didn't know enough about. can only be seen as an introduction because of the scope of the subject, but gives you an idea of just how much history there is and tells you enough to make you rethink assumptions ( )

A really eye-opening antidote to the standard history of the Americas. ( )

This is an incredible book, surpassing my high expectations. The writing is solid, clear and engaging and the information will truly change your perspective on the history of the Western Hemisphere, even for those well-read in the left's literature on this topic. ( )

Very good. ( )

Probably most people who are interested in this have already read it, but I had not, and when I saw it at a library sale I figured it was time. 1491, of course, is Mann's attempt to describe the Americas as they looked and were inhabited before Columbus arrived. I think he does this fairly well. A lot of his assertions have made it into mainstream thinking by now, 20 years after he wrote it, but then again, there is so much we don't know that I still found the book interesting. The book mainly reminded me of that - that even this particular book itself isn't positive about almost any assertion made.

Ideas that I walked away with, though, were mainly that there were many more people living in the Americas than most people assume. It wasn't just a vast wilderness. And in fact, the indigenous people (so hard to decide which term to use - none of the options are ideal) had actually manufactured the land, the plants, and the animals to suit their needs. So the idea that we should return to native ideals of co-existing with nature are a little off. Also, many of these societies were very advanced. In some areas where we think of European society as having the edge, when you look a little deeper, the way the native American societies were living made the most sense for them and the resources they had at hand. Not lesser, just different.

All in all, still an interesting book and I'm glad I finally read it. ( )