1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C Mann

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - A deeply engaging history of how European settlements in the post-Colombian Americas shaped the world--from the highly acclaimed author of 1491. - "Fascinating...Lively...A convincing explanation of why our world is the way it is." --The New York Times Book Review

Presenting the latest research by biologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians, Mann shows how the post-Columbian 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 this history, Mann uncovers the germ of today's fiercest political disputes, from immigration to trade policy to culture wars. In 1493, Mann has again given readers an eye-opening scientific interpretation of our past, unequaled in its authority and fascination.

Review Quotes:
A New York Times Notable Book - A TIME Magazine Best Book of the Year - A Washington Post Notable Book

"Fascinating ... Lively ... A convincing explanation of why our world is the way it is."
-- The New York Times Book Review

"Even the wisest readers will find many surprises here.... Like 1491, Mann's sequel will change worldviews."
-- San Francisco Chronicle

"Exemplary in its union of meaningful fact with good storytelling, 1493 ranges across continents and centuries to explain how the world we inhabit came to be."
-- The Washington Post

"Engaging ... Mann deftly illuminates contradictions on a human scale: the blind violence and terror at Jamestown, the cruel exploitation of labor in the silver mines of Bolivia, the awe felt by Europeans upon first seeing a rubber ball bounce."
-- The New Yorker

"Revelatory."
--Lev Grossman, Time Magazine

"Compelling and eye-opening."
-- Publishers Weekly Top 100 Books of 2011

"A book to celebrate.... A bracingly persuasive counternarrative to the prevailing mythology about the historical significance of the 'discovery' of America ... 1493 is rich in detail, analytically expansive and impossible to summarize ... [Mann's book] deserves a prominent place among that very rare class of books that can make a difference in how we see the world, although it is neither a polemic nor a work of advocacy. Thoughtful, learned and respectful of its subject matter, 1493 is a splendid achievement."
-- The Oregonian

"Despite his scope, Mann remains grounded in fascinating details.... Such technical insights enhance a very human story, told in lively and accessible prose."
-- Cleveland Plain-Dealer

"Mann's excitement never flags as he tells his breathtaking story ... There is grandeur in this view of the past that looks afresh at the different parts of the world and the parts each played in shaping it."
-- Financial Times

"A muscular, densely documented follow-up [to Mann's 1491] ... Like its predecessor, 1493 runs to more than 400 pages, but it moves at a gallop ... As a historian Mann should be admired not just for his broad scope and restless intelligence but for his biological sensitivity. At every point of his tale he keeps foremost in his mind the effect of humans' activities on the broader environment they inhabit."
-- The Wall Street Journal

CHARLES C. MANN, a correspondent for The Atlantic, Science, and Wired, has written for Fortune, The New York Times, Smithsonian, Technology Review, Vanity Fair, and The Washington Post, as well as for the TV network HBO and the series Law & Order. A three-time National Magazine Award finalist, he is the recipient of writing awards from the American Bar Association, the American Institute of Physics, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Lannan Foundation. His 1491 won the National Academies Communication Award for the best book of the year.

Vintage

Pub Date: July 24, 2012

1.5" H x 8.1" L x 5.2" W

720 pages

paperback