Author Biography | Interview | Books by this Author | Readalikes
Charles C. Mann is a correspondent for Science and The Atlantic Monthly, and has co-written several previous books including Noah's Choice: The Future of Endangered Species and The Second Creation. A three-time National Magazine Award finalist, he has won awards from the American Bar Association, the Margaret Sanger Foundation, the American Institute of Physics, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, among others. In 2005 his book 1491: New Revelation of the Americas Before Columbus was released and in 2011, 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created. His writing was selected for The Best American Science Writing 2003 and The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2003. He lives with his wife and their children in Amherst, Massachusetts.
About This Biography
This biography was last updated on 03/20/2016. We try to keep BookBrowse's biographies both up to date and accurate, but with over 2500 lives to keep track of it's inevitable that some won't be as current or as complete as we would like. So, please help us - if the information about a particular author is out of date, inaccurate or simply very short, and you know of a more complete source, please let us know. Authors and those connected with authors:
If you wish to make changes to your bio, send your complete biography as you would like it displayed so that we can replace the old with the new.
A Conversation with Charles C. Mann
Although this book had its origins in an Atlantic Monthly cover story,
what was it that first drew you to the subject?
Two things, I think. More than twenty years ago, I wrote an article for
Science (I'm a correspondent for the journal's news division) that involved
going to the Yucatan peninsula. I visited some of the Maya ruins there and like
so many other people was absolutely fascinated. I'd just spent two years living
in Rome, and I was struck by how much more extensive—but equally finely
built—the Maya ruins were. I also was astonished by how different the aesthetic
system was—the vertiginous staircases, the corbel arches, the huge reliefs, etc.
This dovetailed with something else. The summer before seventh grade, my parents
moved from the suburbs of Detroit to the Pacific Northwest, an area where the
presence of Native Americans seemed much more evident. I was fascinated by the
idea that very different peoples had lived in the area in the not too distant
past, and that their descendants were still living nearby. But it wasn't until I
got to Yucatan that the penny dropped and I grasped, really and truly, that when
Columbus ...
Born in France on November 30 1907, historian Jacques Barzun came to the United States in 1920. After graduating from Columbia College, he joined the faculty of the university, becoming Seth Low Professor of History and, for ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
1491
Try:
From Dawn To Decadence
by Jacques Barzun
Jared Diamond is a professor of geography at the University of California, Los Angeles. He began his scientific career in physiology and expanded into evolutionary biology and biogeography. He has been elected to the National... (more)
If you enjoyed:
1491
Try:
Guns, Germs & Steel
by Jared Diamond
We recommend 4 similar authors
The Tea Planter's Wife
by Dinah Jefferies
An utterly engrossing, compulsive page-turner set in 1920s Ceylon.
Darling Days
by iO Tillett Wright
A devastatingly powerful memoir of one young woman's extraordinary coming of age.
An intoxicatingly vivid portrait of colonial Kenya and its privileged inhabitants.
About the book
Blood at the Root
"A gripping, timely, and important examination of American racism."
- PW Starred Review
Visitors can view some of BookBrowse for free. Full access is for members only.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends books that we believe to be best in class. Books that will whisk you to faraway places and times, that will expand your mind and challenge you -- the kinds of books you just can't wait to tell your friends about.
Subscribe to receive some of our best reviews, "beyond the book" articles, book club info & giveaways by email.
