America in 1492

The World of the Indian Peoples Before the Arrival of Columbus

Look inside
Developed at the D Arcy McNickle Center for the History of the American Indian and edited by award-winning author Alvin Josephy, Jr., America in 1492 is an invaluable collection of essays by fifteen prominent historians, anthropologists, and scholars of art, religion, and folklore.  With the dozens of illustrations, drawn largely from the rare books and manuscripts housed at the Newberry Library, this work opens a window on worlds that flourished in the Americas five hundred years ago.   With an Introduction by the editor and an Afterword by Vine Deloria, Jr.  

Table of Contents

Part One: We the People, 1492
1. N. Scott Momaday, "The Becoming of the Native: Man in America before Columbus"
2. Robin Ridington, "Northern Hunters"
3. Richard D. Daughterty, "People of the Salmon"
4. Peter Iverson, "Taking Care of the Earth and Sky"
5. Peter Nabokov with Dean Snow, "Farmers of the Woodlands"
6. Miguel Leon-Portilla, "Men of Maiz"
7. Louis C. Faron, "A Continent on the Move"
8. Alan Kolata, "In the Realm of the Four Quarters"

Part Two: American Civilization, 1492
9. Joel Sherzer, "A Richness of Voices"
10. Sam D. Gill, "Religious Forms and Themes"
11. Jay Miller, "A Kinship of Spirit"
12. Francis Jennings, "American Frontiers"
13. Clara Sue Kidwell, "Systems of Knowledge"
14. Christian F. Feest, "The Pervasive World of Arts"

Afterword by Vine Deloria, Jr.
© courtesy of Knopf Publishing

Alvin M. Josephy, Jr., a leading historian of the American West, was the author of many award-winning books, including The Patriot ChiefsThe Indian Heritage of AmericaNow That the Buffalo's GoneThe Civil War in the American West500 Nations, and A Walk Toward Oregon. He was a vice president and editor of American Heritage magazine, the founding chairman of the board of trustees of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, and president of the Western History Association. Josephy died in the fall of 2005.

View titles by Alvin M. Josephy, Jr.
"A teeming panorama of North and South American life from prehistoric times through the 15th century .... A book like [this]needs no recommendation beyond its accuracy, comprehensiveness, and serious of purpose." -- Cleveland Plain Dealer

"America in 1492 totally shatters the pious fiction that there was no civilization here before the arrival of Columbus." -- Dee Brown

About

Developed at the D Arcy McNickle Center for the History of the American Indian and edited by award-winning author Alvin Josephy, Jr., America in 1492 is an invaluable collection of essays by fifteen prominent historians, anthropologists, and scholars of art, religion, and folklore.  With the dozens of illustrations, drawn largely from the rare books and manuscripts housed at the Newberry Library, this work opens a window on worlds that flourished in the Americas five hundred years ago.   With an Introduction by the editor and an Afterword by Vine Deloria, Jr.  

Table of Contents

Part One: We the People, 1492
1. N. Scott Momaday, "The Becoming of the Native: Man in America before Columbus"
2. Robin Ridington, "Northern Hunters"
3. Richard D. Daughterty, "People of the Salmon"
4. Peter Iverson, "Taking Care of the Earth and Sky"
5. Peter Nabokov with Dean Snow, "Farmers of the Woodlands"
6. Miguel Leon-Portilla, "Men of Maiz"
7. Louis C. Faron, "A Continent on the Move"
8. Alan Kolata, "In the Realm of the Four Quarters"

Part Two: American Civilization, 1492
9. Joel Sherzer, "A Richness of Voices"
10. Sam D. Gill, "Religious Forms and Themes"
11. Jay Miller, "A Kinship of Spirit"
12. Francis Jennings, "American Frontiers"
13. Clara Sue Kidwell, "Systems of Knowledge"
14. Christian F. Feest, "The Pervasive World of Arts"

Afterword by Vine Deloria, Jr.

Author

© courtesy of Knopf Publishing

Alvin M. Josephy, Jr., a leading historian of the American West, was the author of many award-winning books, including The Patriot ChiefsThe Indian Heritage of AmericaNow That the Buffalo's GoneThe Civil War in the American West500 Nations, and A Walk Toward Oregon. He was a vice president and editor of American Heritage magazine, the founding chairman of the board of trustees of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, and president of the Western History Association. Josephy died in the fall of 2005.

View titles by Alvin M. Josephy, Jr.

Praise

"A teeming panorama of North and South American life from prehistoric times through the 15th century .... A book like [this]needs no recommendation beyond its accuracy, comprehensiveness, and serious of purpose." -- Cleveland Plain Dealer

"America in 1492 totally shatters the pious fiction that there was no civilization here before the arrival of Columbus." -- Dee Brown

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