Be Specific About Books Supposing 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
| Original Title: | 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created |
| ISBN: | 0307265722 (ISBN13: 9780307265722) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for History & Biography (2011) |
Charles C. Mann
Hardcover | Pages: 557 pages Rating: 4.09 | 15382 Users | 1350 Reviews
Chronicle During Books 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
From the author of 1491—the best-selling study of the pre-Columbian Americas—a deeply engaging new history of the most momentous biological event since the death of the dinosaurs. More than 200 million years ago, geological forces split apart the continents. Isolated from each other, the two halves of the world developed radically different suites of plants and animals. When Christopher Columbus set foot in the Americas, he ended that separation at a stroke. Driven by the economic goal of establishing trade with China, he accidentally set off an ecological convulsion as European vessels carried thousands of species to new homes across the oceans. The Columbian Exchange, as researchers call it, is the reason there are tomatoes in Italy, oranges in Florida, chocolates in Switzerland, and chili peppers in Thailand. More important, creatures the colonists knew nothing about hitched along for the ride. Earthworms, mosquitoes, and cockroaches; honeybees, dandelions, and African grasses; bacteria, fungi, and viruses; rats of every description—all of them rushed like eager tourists into lands that had never seen their like before, changing lives and landscapes across the planet. Eight decades after Columbus, a Spaniard named Legazpi succeeded where Columbus had failed. He sailed west to establish continual trade with China, then the richest, most powerful country in the world. In Manila, a city Legazpi founded, silver from the Americas, mined by African and Indian slaves, was sold to Asians in return for silk for Europeans. It was the first time that goods and people from every corner of the globe were connected in a single worldwide exchange. Much as Columbus created a new world biologically, Legazpi and the Spanish empire he served created a new world economically. As Charles C. Mann shows, the Columbian Exchange underlies much of subsequent human history. Presenting the latest research by ecologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians, Mann shows how the creation of this worldwide network of ecological and economic exchange fostered the rise of Europe, devastated imperial China, convulsed Africa, and for two centuries made Mexico City—where Asia, Europe, and the new frontier of the Americas dynamically interacted—the center of the world. In such encounters, he uncovers the germ of today’s fiercest political disputes, from immigration to trade policy to culture wars. In 1493, Charles Mann gives us an eye-opening scientific interpretation of our past, unequaled in its authority and fascination
Present Containing Books 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
| Title | : | 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created |
| Author | : | Charles C. Mann |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 557 pages |
| Published | : | August 9th 2011 by Alfred A. Knopf (NY) |
| Categories | : | History. Nonfiction. Science. North American Hi.... American History. World History. Anthropology. Economics |
Rating Containing Books 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
Ratings: 4.09 From 15382 Users | 1350 ReviewsCommentary Containing Books 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
Loved this book! For every sentence I read in it, author Charles C. Mann read hundreds, and he has the bibliography to prove it.I loved it for two reasons: I love the sweeping overview of human *everything* that Mann provides: foods, migration, slavery, the global trade that preceded--in fact, led to--Columbus's discovery of the New World. And I loved it because it told me so much I didn't know: how the discovery of the potato, in the New World, saved the population of Europe from, if not1493 is all over the place...and that's a good thing. Charles C. Mann's follow up to his spectacular 1491 look at the pre-Columbian Americas is quite an admirable undertaking. Here he looks at the consequences of Columbus's voyages to the Americas. For better and/or for worse they had far reaching affects, especially biologically. Mann's premise seems to state that Columbus was not a morally good man, but he should be recognized as bringing about the world's biological homogenization. Though
Like his previous work, 1491, the author uses Christopher Columbuss European discovery of the New World as a pivotal point in history; in this case, what changes occurred to our world in the wake of this momentous discovery? The task of deciding which threads of history are worth writing about is no less daunting than the act of retracing each significant event that will elucidate and enhance his story. By organizing his history into four main categories Mann is able to get a hold of this
1493 / 978-0307265722I really enjoyed Charles Mann's 1491, but after struggling to get through 1493, I'm afraid to re-read the first and find that my opinion may now be reversed.1491 was for me a wonderfully compiled and comprehensive look at the Americas before Columbus arrived and everything was inexorably changed. I appreciated the information presented in the book, as well as the manner in which it was presented -- I was strongly affected by Mann's tone with that volume and how he seemed to
Maybe not quite as good as 1491? But probably just because I was more interested in the subject matter there. Once again, Mann has written a kickass book. I really dig this guy.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. So why did I give it only one star??!! Well, I'll tell you.First the good: this is a wide-sweeping review of what Mr. Mann calls the homogenocene - the result of Colombus discovering America and the worldwide mixing of plants, animals, microbes, and humans that has resulted. I learned a lot of historical facts that Mr. Mann spices up with stories that give you a real feel for the boomtowns that sprang up around silver mines and rubber plantations in South America,
So, so glad I was able to get my hands on this during the summer. I read the predecessor, 1491, because Mann came to Wilmington as the Honors Spring Speaker. This book seemed less dry than 1491 but also less mind blowing. Perhaps this was a result of hearing Mann's speech in which he mostly talked about 1493. Perhaps this was a result of taking AP Euro in high school. I knew a lot of what the book talked about based on Mann's speech, though the details he had not included were still interesting.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.