1491

Professor Brad DeLong assigns an essay by Charles Mann, author of 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, to his American Economic History class and requires the students to comment. Surfing the web, Mann himself finds the discussion and responds to some of the comments.

Interesting if you are familiar with Mann’s book (or the essay). If you’re not familiar with it, here’s the link to his Atlantic Monthly article. It may get you to rethink what you probably were taught about the Americas before Columbus.

Some of DeLong’s other assigned readings also appear interesting. He teaches and blogs at Berkeley.