Scan barcode
snowcrash's review
4.0
I love books that give me a new way to look at the world. This is one of them.
Here we learn about the gifts the natives of the Americas gave to the world as a whole. Some of it is sad, some of it is exciting. Hopefully it will give other readers pause to appreciate just how the world was changed.
I especially liked the chapters about food. From growing to culinary styles, many things that people in other tropical regions consider their own came from the Amazon. I didn't realize that tomatoes were brought over from the New World, incorporated into numerous dishes, especially Italian. I knew about potatoes, but not the wide variety grown in the New World, or that the calories derived from them allowed for Europe to expand. It is telling that the author posits the Incas were conducting field experiments with various potatoes to discover what grew best and where.
The natives of the Americas were excellent stewards of the land. Their ability to combine three crops onto a single plot of land for the betterment of all is one such example. As a whole, they coexisted with the Earth. We still have a lot to learn from them.
It is this kind of history that should be taught in public schools. It gives a richness to the cultures of the Americas in 1491, along with how the world changed due to their influence. The conquerors have managed to expunge the accomplishments of the natives who taught them. It is only through understanding how things came to be can we appreciate those that came before us.
Here we learn about the gifts the natives of the Americas gave to the world as a whole. Some of it is sad, some of it is exciting. Hopefully it will give other readers pause to appreciate just how the world was changed.
I especially liked the chapters about food. From growing to culinary styles, many things that people in other tropical regions consider their own came from the Amazon. I didn't realize that tomatoes were brought over from the New World, incorporated into numerous dishes, especially Italian. I knew about potatoes, but not the wide variety grown in the New World, or that the calories derived from them allowed for Europe to expand. It is telling that the author posits the Incas were conducting field experiments with various potatoes to discover what grew best and where.
The natives of the Americas were excellent stewards of the land. Their ability to combine three crops onto a single plot of land for the betterment of all is one such example. As a whole, they coexisted with the Earth. We still have a lot to learn from them.
It is this kind of history that should be taught in public schools. It gives a richness to the cultures of the Americas in 1491, along with how the world changed due to their influence. The conquerors have managed to expunge the accomplishments of the natives who taught them. It is only through understanding how things came to be can we appreciate those that came before us.
More...