monicaa_d's review
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
5.0
A favorite. Wide ranging and fascinating at every turn, revelatory, exciting. Made me desperately want a fresh tortilla. Inspired me to travel to Mexico.
demillesfahan's review
5.0
Mann is not a historian, and it shows sometimes, but this book is still excellently-written and researched. Mann assembles a vast field of evidence from many disciplines to expand our knowledge of the Americas, making this a great read for anyone interested in or teaching anything about the history of the Americas.
docpacey's review
4.0
This is an excellent book, well written, entertaining, highly informative. It should probably replace most current high school history texts in the US. I would normally give unadulterated praise for a work so worthy, except for two glaring things: First, Mann's insistence on calling Native Americans "Indians" throughout the book completely undermines his thesis that native cultures should no longer be defined in western terms, and secondly, the use of BC and all other references to the western christian world in dates and philosophies has surely been superseded by modern notation and thought. CE and BCE are common enough that we really don't have to be constantly reminded of every ancient thing in its relation to christian dates and benchmarks, especially in a book whose purpose is to downplay the importance of european conquest in "civilizing" the western hemisphere.