Rodolfo Acuña, Occupied America: A History of Chicanos.
I suspect this might better fit under "shaping the world", but I've only read the first chapter yet -- entitled "Not Just Pyramids, Explorers, and Heroes" -- and it very much fits under "not an empty continent."
Acuña begins by debunking the phrase "New World," then moves on to discussing world systems, independent cradles of civilization (two in the Americas!), and the ancient dispersal of humanity into the Americas (including the possibility of back-migration into Asia via the Bering land bridge). He then runs through a description of a handful of the numerous Mesoamerican civilizations: Olmeca, Maya, Teotihuacan, Tolteca, Tarasco, and Azteca.
I came away from this chapter with a clear sense that history in the so-called New World is old and deep, and isn't just some random footnote to "real" history.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2009-05-13 08:03 pm (UTC)I suspect this might better fit under "shaping the world", but I've only read the first chapter yet -- entitled "Not Just Pyramids, Explorers, and Heroes" -- and it very much fits under "not an empty continent."
Acuña begins by debunking the phrase "New World," then moves on to discussing world systems, independent cradles of civilization (two in the Americas!), and the ancient dispersal of humanity into the Americas (including the possibility of back-migration into Asia via the Bering land bridge). He then runs through a description of a handful of the numerous Mesoamerican civilizations: Olmeca, Maya, Teotihuacan, Tolteca, Tarasco, and Azteca.
I came away from this chapter with a clear sense that history in the so-called New World is old and deep, and isn't just some random footnote to "real" history.