Join us for a discussion of “1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus” by Charles C. Mann. This book is available in print at the Samish Library in Anacortes and as an audiobook from the Samish Digital Library on the Libby app. 

Please email RSVP@samishtribe.nsn.us to join the Book Club email list! Book Club members will receive invitations to all discussions and can choose which to attend. 

Contrary to what so many Americans learn in school, the pre-Columbian Indians were not sparsely settled in a pristine wilderness; rather, there were huge numbers of Indians who actively molded and influenced the land around them. The astonishing Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan had running water and immaculately clean streets, and was larger than any contemporary European city. Mexican cultures created corn in a specialized breeding process that it has been called man’s first feat of genetic engineering. Indeed, Indians were not living lightly on the land but were landscaping and manipulating their world in ways that we are only now beginning to understand. Challenging and surprising, this a transformative new look at a rich and fascinating world we only thought we knew.

This event is co-hosted by Samish Indian Nation's Chelángen Department and Prevention/Intervention Program.