(no subject)

[skygiants]

When I asked for recommendations for books about pre-colonial America, a whole bunch of people popped up at me and said "READ THIS BOOK." Which is why I now owe the library $5 in fines on Charles Mann's 1491: New Revelations of The Americas Before Columbus; I waited a long time for it to come in at the library after receiving the emphatic recommendation, and I was not about to let it go until I had finished it!

The book basically has three central theses:
1. There were a whole lot of people with complex civilizations living in America before its "discovery" by Europeans.
2. All of those civilizations involved controlling the landscape through farming and agriculture, and therefore terraforming of the land is not only inevitable but totally justified and the idea of wanting to preserve nature without altering it for human convenience is dumb.
3. The people living in those civilizations had agency.

I was fascinated by all the evidence presented about Thesis 1 and SUPER EXCITED to see Thesis 3 repeatedly stated and emphasized; for that, if nothing else, I would have loved this book.

I want to complain that it felt unfair to the book to use it as a weapon in the environmentalism wars, but actually I think it is pretty clear that a large part of the reason that Mann wrote the book was to talk about the environmentalism factor and therefore I don't really have room to complain just because I don't happen to fully agree with his viewpoint. And to be fair, for the most part Mann sticks to portraying the evidence and describing the various agricultural techniques - which, again, seriously fascinating. I was visiting a scientist friend in Boston while I was in the middle of this book, and we had several conversations that went like this:

BECCA: Hey, biology-major friend, did you know that the early civilizations in Peru probably bioengineered maize? Am I crazy or is that totally amazing, and also, awesome?
BECCA'S KIND HOSTESS: You are not crazy! Speaking from my biological learnings, I think that is awesome. I also thought it was awesome the last ten times you brought it up. I am not sure I will think it is so awesome after ten more times, though.

But seriously, no other culture created their staple grain by inventing bioengineering. This may go without saying, but I would never be to invent bioengineering in a million years! Especially if I did not already have a staple food source to eat while I was trying to invent things. (The author also does us the kindness of including all the glorious academic bitchery that surrounds discussion of things like this. THE GREAT MAIZE WARS.)

But I will stop rhapsodizing about maize now, and will stop myself from starting to rhapsodize about any of the other intriguing details that the book presents - because it's worth saying, also, that the vast majority of what is known about early American cultures is guesswork based on limited evidence. And the other thing I really respect about the book is that, while Mann is excited about what we know, he doesn't let you forget that. And he also doesn't let you forget just how much was lost after the terrifying epidemics that came with European contact and the conquest that followed from that, and how much poorer the world is for it now.

Comments

[gramarye1971]

Every time I read about this book, part of my brain keeps confusing it with the extremely poorly written and pseudo-historical 1421: The Year China Discovered the World -- which is a shame, because Mann's book clearly sounds fascinating and well researched! *makes note to add it to library list and not confuse it anymore*

[skygiants]

Ha, that was the other title that came up when I was looking for the Amazon link, and I remember feeling vague curiosity - good to have the anti-rec!

[cursor-mundi.livejournal.com]

I am fascinated with point 2, since a great portion of my dissertation involves undoing the assumptions based on the idea that England has had "primeval, untouched woodlands" some time in the last 2,000 years that humanity then "ruined". (For the record: these primeval forests have been gone for more like 4-6 thousand, at least according to what I've found recently.) It's really surprising to see how much the modern scholarship on medieval landscapes has been totally hijacked by cultural assumptions that aren't even valid, and which often (as point 3 demonstrates!) denies agency to the civilizations inhabiting the landscapes prior to the Great Arrival of People X [insert terms of choice here!], hence the importance of point 1. Errr, but that's appropriating Mann's discussion for my own purposes, so I'll stop now.... *is sheepish yet intrigued*

So I shall put 1491 on my list, and investigate. Thank you for the rec!

[skygiants]

Oh dude, this book would be completely up your alley in that respect - I mean, it is not a scholarly text, it's a historical/journalistic one, so the discussion is not hugely theoretical, but all the same I think there are definite parallels that points that could be interesting to you. In other words, I think you should definitely investigate!

[theladyrue.livejournal.com]

Oooh interesting research for worldbuilding. And the full text is available online from my school library. :D :D :D.

(Thanks, Becca. There goes homework time :P :P <3)

[schiarire.livejournal.com]

Yum yum, maize :)

[skygiants]

It's a-maize-ing?


. . . . . . okay yes I even hate myself.

[skygiants]

It is so useful as research! It is so useful that I am counting it as writing productivity for the weekend despite not actually working on anythng I was supposed to be working on.

(YOU'RE WELCOME. :DDDD)

[ojuzu.livejournal.com]

I love this book so incredibly much! If I didn't have to go to bed right this instant to be awake for class I would so dust off my copy and re-read it right now. ♥

[skygiants]

It is very worthy of this love! :D I remembered you and other people singing its praises last time, that's one of the reasons I got it.