1491, described in the post below, is an important book but not a perfect one. For one thing, the cultures of the American west are barely mentioned. How could Mann write that Cahokia (opposite the Mississippi River from present-day St. Louis and little more than a bunch of mounds) was the only city north of the Rio Grande when there's Chaco Canyon's wonderful and mysterious Pueblo Bonito? (I found this lovely picture here.) Sure, it's only one book and Mann has the developments of over 10,000 years of an entire hemisphere to cover, but the Anasazi aren't so much as mentioned! Definite East Coast bias, here!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Muy bonito
1491, described in the post below, is an important book but not a perfect one. For one thing, the cultures of the American west are barely mentioned. How could Mann write that Cahokia (opposite the Mississippi River from present-day St. Louis and little more than a bunch of mounds) was the only city north of the Rio Grande when there's Chaco Canyon's wonderful and mysterious Pueblo Bonito? (I found this lovely picture here.) Sure, it's only one book and Mann has the developments of over 10,000 years of an entire hemisphere to cover, but the Anasazi aren't so much as mentioned! Definite East Coast bias, here!