1491
By Charles C. Mann
Ancient histories rarely read like detective stories, but Charles Mann is travelling the globe investigating the origins of the Americas. In 1491, Mann hunts down the latest discoveries about the cultures of the western continents before Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492.
Mann looks at several early civilizations in North, Central, and South America. He synthesizes many recent, but little-known studies from a range of scientific and historical experts. He challenges that the Americas were home to cultures more advanced than had been previously been known. With this in mind, he also debates their possible beliefs and attitudes toward land, slavery, and governance.
1491 shows how much of what we know today of our continents’ history is highly debatable. There is a faction that holds the Amazon Basin supported vast, thriving civilizations up until the fifteenth century. Others still maintain that this would have been impossible given the unforgiving climate and jungle landscape.
While discussing the new findings, he also tracks how the most common myths were accepted. Though many of the anecdotes in this work are speculative, even the little-known facts of these civilizations are presented in a satisfying tale. His coverage of the Indians who occupied New England and the Mississippi River is fascinating. The work creates a very different, more provoking, study than the grammar school text books provide.
- Kyle
Harry Truman’s Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip
By Matthew Algeo
Harry Truman left office in 1953, before ex-Presidents had Secret Service protection or pensions. With only his Army pension for income, Harry returned to his Independence, Missouri home to resume life as an ordinary citizen. Harry loved to drive, and was determined (despite his wife’s misgivings) to make a 2500-mile vacation road trip to New York and back. He and Bess set out in their new Chrysler on a journey over America’s back roads (no interstates then), with stops at small-town diners and Mom and Pop motels, during a hell-busting heat spell (no air conditioning in cars then, either).
This book is utterly charming. This is not a 1000-page deep history. What it offers is an intriguing and humorous look at Harry Truman, the 1950s, and road trips in general. It offers fascinating side stories (like Harry’s feud with Dwight D. Eisenhower), details of meals taken (Bess really eats quite a lot of fruit), and a view of what has happened since 1953 to some of the places they visited (one of the motels is now a halfway house for felons). A very satisfying read, and an incitement to read much more about Harry Truman.
- Pam
Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio
by Jeffrey Kluger
Ok, how interesting can a book on researching a cure for polio, a non-threat in this century, be? Very! This is a thriller even though you know the ending. The first chapter starts with an expose by Walter Winchell talking about all the white coffins that will be needed for all the children that the new polio vaccine will kill. Dr. Salk stays focused on his mission: to inoculate as many brave “polio pioneers” as he can before the next outbreak.
As any hero he has his foibles. His family and marriage suffer with all the time spent in the lab trying to be the first to come up with the cure. When he does get recognition, his academy speech does not mention his brilliant and dedicated staff. Every chapter starts with a picture from the medical archives of this terrifying period in the 40’s and 50’s. Anyone who grew up during this time knew of someone who had had polio and what an iron lung looked like. This true story is even a better read than a Robin Cook novel.
- Cheryl
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