IRB #1 Introduction Post

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus (Second Edition)

By Charles C. Mann 

This book focuses on life in the Americas before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492,  and discusses the idea that the Americas were well settled before by natives before they were discovered by Europeans and were therefore already developed and impacted by the needs of the natives. Mann argues that Native Americans in the Americas invented the idea of genetic engineering, built cities more impressive than ones in Europe, and even caused the Amazon rain forest to change to their specifications. 

I selected this book as my IRB mainly due to the fact that, in general, history fascinates me. I love to watch specials on myths, legends, and the discoveries of famous events on the History Channel, and history has always been one of my favorite subjects. More recently, however, I was required to read about early life in the Americas when I read the first few chapters of my AP U.S. History textbook this summer. Many of the common ideas that Mann claims are incorrect, like the time Native Americans crossed over to the Americas from Asia via the "land bridge", were things that I learned from this textbook. I became curious when I read about this book on Amazon.com, and now I want to find out the new discoveries about what was really going on in the Americas before 1492.