Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World
“As entertaining as it is thoughtful….Few contemporary writers have Weatherford’s talent for making the deep sweep of history seem vital and immediate.”
THE WASHINGTON POST
After 500 years, the world’s huge debt to the wisdom of the Indians of the Americas has finally been explored in all its vivid drama by anthropologist Jack Weatherford. He traces the crucial contributions made by the Indians to our federal system of government, our democratic institutions, modern medicine, agriculture
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Wonderful!,
When you read this book you must understand that the old adage that history is written by the conquerors is very true as is painfully illustrated in this book.
I’m of mixed Caucasion and American Indian descent. Many of the questions that I’ve wondered about my whole life were answered in this book. Where did all of the Inca gold go to? Why isn’t Spain a major world power? Why does it seem as though most foods are native to the Americas? These are questions that are “skirted” in popular history books, giving all of the stability of modern life to the credit of “civilized” Europeans. As for the quesiton of democracy, the United States is in no sense the same type of democracy as ancient Greece (which was really a republic). If you’re open minded an logical this book will blow your mind.
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|Great food (no pun intended) for thought!,
Weatherford raises issues such as American Indians’ contributions to the geopolitical influence of American silver and gold on the rest of the world…toward the end of that discussion it appears that the thread of connection between Indians’ contributions and eventual impact of gold and silver is thin at best.
There are extremely valuable discussions about the diversity and impact of food, medicinal, and other plants. Those probably had a much larger impact on the rest of the world than did any of their other contributions. Consider the impact of potatoes, corn, many species of beans, peanuts, and long-fiber cotton on the rest of the world. I’m not sure that I agree with Weatherford on this…but he goes as far as to suggest that the Industrial Revolution of the late 19th century was driven by the importation of long-fiber cotton from the Americas to Europe.
Weatherford also discusses the contributions of Indians of the Americas to political philosophy, including the framing of the Constitution of the United States. I believe there is some significance to that, but perhaps not as much as Weatherford suggests.
Regardless of those kinds of potential academic disagreements and the periodic forays into speculation by the author, “Indian Givers” remains a book well worth reading.
This would be a great book for anyone interested in the culture and history of the Indians of the Americas, or for those with interest in ethnobotany, the imact of the Indians of the Americas on the rest of the world, or the impact of the rest of the world on the Indians of the Americas (disease, conquests, etc. — sad business, that!)
A good book, but a litte to speculative in some parts for me to award it 5 stars…definitely a strong 4 stars though.
I’m grateful for all the benefits I enjoy that came from the Indians of the Americas.
Alan Holyoak, Director of Environmental Studies, Manchester College, IN
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|A great book!,
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