Author Biography | Interview | Books by this Author | Read-Alikes
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.
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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 landed he had stumbled across an entire...
Caroline Dodds Pennock is one of the world's leading authorities on the Aztecs. Trained at Oxford, she is senior lecturer in international history at the University of Sheffield. Her study of Aztec human sacrifice, Bonds of ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
1491
Try:
On Savage Shores
by Caroline Dodds Pennock
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
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