1493 for Young People by Charles C. Mann tells the gripping story of
globalization through travel, trade, colonization, and migration from
its beginnings in the fifteenth century to the present. How did the
lowly potato plant feed the poor across Europe and then cause the deaths
of millions? How did the rubber plant enable industrialization? What is
the connection between malaria, slavery, and the outcome of the American
Revolution? How did the fabled silver mountain of sixteenth-century
Bolivia fund economic development in the flood-prone plains of rural
China and the wars of the Spanish Empire? Here is the story of how
sometimes the greatest leaps also posed the greatest threats to human
advancement.
Mann's language is as plainspoken and clear as it is provocative, his
research and erudition vast, his conclusions ones that will stimulate
the critical thinking of young people. 1493 for Young People provides
tools for wrestling with the most pressing issues of today, and will
empower young people as they struggle with a changing world.