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Before Columbus  By  cover art

Before Columbus

By: Charles C. Mann
Narrated by: Stephen McLaughlin
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Publisher's summary

A companion book for young listeners based on 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, the groundbreaking best seller by Charles C. Mann.

©2009 Charles C. Mann and Downtown Bookworks Inc. (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Before Columbus

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A Great Intro, Abridged and Edited

Based on findings and debates in recent decades (published in 2009), this broad brush sketch of the Americas before Columbus presents a vastly different image than many of us grew up with. While basic outlines of more heavily populated continents ravaged by European diseases have already shown the error of the cultural and technological superiority narrative of conquest, this book goes further. With a focus on the long term origins of Native American population, their agricultural innovations (including the invention of maize, the milpa system of codependent and mutually fertilizing crops, and the potato), and their management by fire and labor of much of the continent for their support (from orchards in the Amazon to game preserves on the northern Plains), this work provides an easily digestible and valuable introduction to a complex and fascinating world only slowly becoming visible to us. Highly recommended.

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5 people found this helpful

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delightful way to know who. is who

a very informatuve way of knowing who is WHO in the world we live in. who was guilty and who was not. THANKS

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3 people found this helpful

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Excellent!!!

This was an amazing book! I loved the research and presentation! I am a major history nerd,. and it is hard to find in-depth books.. The narration was also done very well and the pronunciations accurate! If I could give it more than 5 stars in each category, I surely would! 🙂

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2 people found this helpful

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Fantastic!

I’m a history teacher and I loved 1491 and 1493. This book is a distilled version of those two. Especially the first. Great for beginners and experts. Really hits at the heart of 1491, without a whole lot of embellishment.

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1 person found this helpful

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The rating was 5 till I heard the pyramid part

Was very good book till I heard that pyramids of the coast of Peru is older than Egypt which is very wrong and amateurish statement. Civilizations progressed east to west not vice versa. When u research sumerian history especially clay tablets u understand that. Cheops did not build the pyramids 2600 bc he Reconstructed it even inventory Stela showing that what founded around 1850. Look water erosion on the sphinx. Water erosion is so deep it shows constant water flows. The climate at that time couldn't caused it. Indian old sacred txt and yugas describing the cycles very accurately
Saying that the Sahara desert drying up started 3900 BC which means that the greenish land and rainwater was happening before that and the great flood could cause the erosion as well which took place 9600 BC according to the Indian ancient txts. Pyramids and the culture is more older than the mainstream science tells u.

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Surprisingly fantastic.

This is supposedly written for middle graders, but I found it right up my alley. I thoroughly enjoyed the history lesson presented in such a delightful way. Extremely well done

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short and very informative

Tgey really dont teach us enough in school. this book is so informative and changed my perspective of american history. stephen mclaughlin is an excellent narrator for non fiction.

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Very interesting

My son and I enjoyed listening to this book during our homeschool, while learning about early North American history. We learned many new things about the early Native Americans, as well as the devastation of North America due to early European settlers.

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Amazing insights

There’s a lot of bad information about the pre-Columbian Americas out there and this book does so much to push back on many bad narratives. I highly recommend and hope to find more insight works like it.

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fascinating

a brief overview of what the Americas were like before the Europeans came to change it all. very different from what was taught in school

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