What do we really know about American history? I don’t know
about you – but the American history I learned began in 1492 –
the last five hundred years of history on this continent. But
what about before that? We were often led to believe that this
land was simply vast and empty – a big wasteland – waiting to be
“settled.” But this isn’t even remotely true. Alvin Josephy Jr.
has compiled information about our continent from the best
authorities in this area in his book America in 1492: The World
of the Indian Peoples Before the Arrival of Columbus.
Publishers’ Weekly writes this about the book America in 1492,
In a concerted effort to quash myths and stereotypes, Josephy
assembles essays by noted writers and scholars that depict
Native American culture at the time of Columbus’s first voyage
to the Americas. From the inside cover, When Columbus landed in
1492, the New World was far from being a vast expanse of empty
wilderness: it was home to some seventy-five million people.
They ranged from the Arctic to Tier