atippmann's review against another edition
3.0
Well-written and interesting, some sections more than others. Found myself skipping around a bit. I think I was more intrigued by biology and ecology, I'd be much more interested. Great writing though!
august30th's review against another edition
4.0
In this worthy successor to his fantastic "1491," Charles C. Mann provides a more holistic perspective of the Columbian Exchange by assigning agency to the groups that are often presented as having none: Africans and Indians. Mann focuses the book on the Columbian Exchange and its overarching effects. One of his most apt lines is toward the end of the book when he says that the exploration of the New World is often looked at as an onslaught of Europeans tearing down helpless Indians and enslaving Africans in plantations. He counters this reductionist take by providing insight into maroons, Africans, and Indians and their wars against colonizers, as well as their interactions with one another (both friendly and hostile). A part of the book that I enjoyed was reading about African attitudes toward slavery and how that differed from European attitudes. His way of putting it was that Napoleon wanted to take Egypt while an African Napoleon would want to take the Egyptians. Europeans treated slaves as "pieces" while Africans still recognized their humanity.
Mann delved into other interesting topics such as the rubber trade, the Exchange's impact on the environment, the transformation of our world, and the Chinese/Peruvian silver trade. Mann did a great job capturing the everyday person who is often skipped over in big-picture retellings of this time period. He connects each piece of his argument to today and clearly traces cause and effect.
Mann delved into other interesting topics such as the rubber trade, the Exchange's impact on the environment, the transformation of our world, and the Chinese/Peruvian silver trade. Mann did a great job capturing the everyday person who is often skipped over in big-picture retellings of this time period. He connects each piece of his argument to today and clearly traces cause and effect.
shawnwhy's review against another edition
5.0
really realyl fun jouney into the colonial era in the Americas. alot pf pirates, slave trade, small wars, inter-marriages. people who inported corn into China casused a Malthusian Catastrophe .
Africans traded slaves, because they saw only labour power as property and not land, and people would even rent them selves out as slaves. because of the mixture of the races, the ruling classes in the Americas gave all these names to the mixed kids.
Africans traded slaves, because they saw only labour power as property and not land, and people would even rent them selves out as slaves. because of the mixture of the races, the ruling classes in the Americas gave all these names to the mixed kids.
jasonfurman's review against another edition
5.0
A remarkable global history from 1493 to the present, describes the trade and exchange of people, plants, commodities, and microorganisms between Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa. It is nowhere nearly as original as Charles Mann's previous 1491, with presented a revolutionary portrait of pre-Columbian America, nor Guns, Germs and Steel, which covers some of the same terrain. But it is still a thoughtful, balanced, creative, and large-scale history of what the author, following earlier works, calls the "Columbian exchange." The book is journalistic in nature and draws on a wide variety of research including conventional history, genetics, environmental studies, farm studies, and economic history.
Mann's thesis is that since 1493, a massive Transatlantic and Transpacific trade has helped create a new era in global environmental history, the Homogenocene -- which is a homogenizing of the people, plants and people around the world. Some of the exchanges he describes are well known and well documented, like the slave trade. Others I had never heard of, like the large role that the guano mining and trade played in 19th century agriculture. All of them are described in a vivid and humanizing way, for example describing the horrors of guano mining by essentially enslaved Chinese laborers, the boomtowns that it created in Peru, the cartels that controlled it, and the impact it had on European agriculture. In between these levels of familiarity, are detailed descriptions of the trade in tobacco, silver, the potato, rubber, rice, sugarcane, malaria and yellow fever.
In the course of this, the book covers the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution, the founding of the America's and the rise of Europe. It is also interesting in that it spends as much time on China and Asia, not just as a source of materials for the West but also in describing how the trade in items like silver and the potato transformed Asian economies, societies, and even their physical topographies. The Philippines get a particularly interesting treatment in the book, as the crossroads of the Asia, the New World, and Europe.
I appreciate Mann's balance in writing the book. He is unstinting in his descriptions of the human and ecological horrors brought by the exchange. But he is also clear and forthright about their massive benefits that these exchanges have brought.
Mann's thesis is that since 1493, a massive Transatlantic and Transpacific trade has helped create a new era in global environmental history, the Homogenocene -- which is a homogenizing of the people, plants and people around the world. Some of the exchanges he describes are well known and well documented, like the slave trade. Others I had never heard of, like the large role that the guano mining and trade played in 19th century agriculture. All of them are described in a vivid and humanizing way, for example describing the horrors of guano mining by essentially enslaved Chinese laborers, the boomtowns that it created in Peru, the cartels that controlled it, and the impact it had on European agriculture. In between these levels of familiarity, are detailed descriptions of the trade in tobacco, silver, the potato, rubber, rice, sugarcane, malaria and yellow fever.
In the course of this, the book covers the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution, the founding of the America's and the rise of Europe. It is also interesting in that it spends as much time on China and Asia, not just as a source of materials for the West but also in describing how the trade in items like silver and the potato transformed Asian economies, societies, and even their physical topographies. The Philippines get a particularly interesting treatment in the book, as the crossroads of the Asia, the New World, and Europe.
I appreciate Mann's balance in writing the book. He is unstinting in his descriptions of the human and ecological horrors brought by the exchange. But he is also clear and forthright about their massive benefits that these exchanges have brought.
rockingreader's review against another edition
3.0
Informative. Mann uses the theory of the Columbian exchange to explore how immigration and migration of people as well as the exchange of resources to and within the New World shaped history, commerce, people and cultures worldwide. Writing a bit dry.
overheat4600's review against another edition
4.0
A compelling blend of micro stories illustrating macro trends.
sprague's review against another edition
4.0
Fascinating look at how the world changed after Columbus. Surprisingly, there is a lot here about China, which makes sense considering that's where the early explorers were all headed.
kbrsuperstar's review against another edition
2.0
'1491' stuck to just a few subjects (archaeology, epidemiology, and pre-Columbian agriculture/botany) in a limited space of time (pre-1492 mostly and slightly after) and in a specific area (North and South America) and I think that's why it was such an enjoyable read.
'1493' is literally and figuratively all over the map. From modern-day rubber plantations to Peruvian silver mines in the 17th C. to Ming Dynasty-era currency fluctuations... the slender thread of the cross-Columbian exchange is just not enough to hold it all together. :(
'1493' is literally and figuratively all over the map. From modern-day rubber plantations to Peruvian silver mines in the 17th C. to Ming Dynasty-era currency fluctuations... the slender thread of the cross-Columbian exchange is just not enough to hold it all together. :(