JFDI- BOOK NO. 2: 1491 by Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus in 1492.

BookName	1491 NEW REVELATIONS OF THE AMERICAS BEFORE COLUMBUS
Author	Charles C. Mann
Rating	AVERAGE 3
Meeting Date	Thu 11 Oct 2012
	ALISTAIR'S VIEW (HE COULDN'T ATTEND): I found it quite hard going, much more than I expected. With so many unfamiliar names, places, native groupings and individuals at times you feel really quite lost. Early on this really bugged me but then I thought about it and I'd say this really is a highlight. The fact that this history is so unknown to us in Europe / the Americas themselves is very sad. To think that the population at large know so much about European and Central Asian historic figures living at the same time but so little about the Americas. It was good to hear some of these names and some of the history. I found the author could labour the point at times when we as readers could maybe grasp how applicable some of the points he made about other areas were to the area he was talking about at the time. European diseases and the tragic impact they had in reducing numbers being a case in point. Approaching this book you feel some trepidation. My direct family didn't stray too far from the British Isles, you can think of us as the ones who stayed behind, however we know that some parts of my wife's family landed in New England in the very early days (within fifteen years of the pilgrims). My daughters are the first from that line to be born back here in the old world. Personally I took the book (as far as I've got) as a good history book but I didn't feel as emotionally involved in the history as I would if I was reading something about Scots or Irish history from the timeframe covered. I certainly learnt a lot along the way ,I loved the idea that one technology wasn't necessary superior to the other but was very different. I guess it re-enforces the idea they history tends to be written by the victors but that also in parts of South America the old cultures still resonate strongly.  When we visit the US much of our time is spent in Arizona, here at least I feel there is a small element of the older culture still evident. However this is tiny, a few fried bread stalls at the farmers market on a Sunday. I felt my ignorance of native cultures at its strongest when I visited Santa Fe in New Mexico, I'd never even heard about the cultures that had lived in settled towns. How should I feel about this? Even in England it's evident our teaching of history falls into great gaps of information or history written by the victors (take the fact that they teach an English civil war  in place of a much wider British Isles series of conflicts).                                                                                                                   In conclusion I like what I've read so far but I haven't been entirely gripped it's just been a little too dry for me. My overriding view has been more about how we think and write about history than the book itself. Of course this may change as I read on but for me it's a solid but slightly unspectacular 3. Hope you all have a good evening
Proposer	Lucero, Sergio
Month	Aug-12
Year	2012
Member	Lucero,Sergio