Some mistakes will obviously creep in via the journalistic practice of interviewing the sources. George Lovell is not nor was he editor of the Journal of the Southwest (p. The author's intent is to add new fire for those advocating updating of secondary school texts that cover the American Indians, their histories and contributions, so that the next generation of students will not continue to be inflicted with outdated and misleading theories of origins, what happened to the Amerindians and why, relations between aboriginals and settlers, the nature of cultural achievements, and where current scholars stand on the debate over ecological practices that maintain sustainability, and so forth.
This "revelation" was enough for him to take up the task of bringing together the new evidence to the public. More recently, as a concerned parent, he reviewed textbooks brought home from school, and learned to his chagrin that the present generation is learning the same information that their parents had. Impressed by recent findings, the author expected that someone would soon provide a synthesis to update the public on the status of the debates. Mann's interest in the subject began when he read the 1992 special volume of the Annals of the Association of American Geographers devoted to the nature and impact of the encounter between Europe and the Americas. Indeed, he has done his homework well, as the almost fifty page bibliography attests, all providing a sense of authority. Even if Mann lacks an advanced degree in American archaeology or geography, he appears to be on a close personal level with top figures in the field. He has surveyed much of the published literature, and in constructing his narrative he has interviewed most of the key specialists involved in recent heated debates on Amerindian history.
He has visited many of the archaeological sites he vividly describes, from Cahokia in the Mississippi valley to the Marajó settlement near the mouth of the Amazon, even Cerro Baúl in southern Peru. He has penned or coauthored several books and many articles, and his interest in Amerindians spans more than two decades. The words "new revelations" in the title and "groundbreaking study" on the dust jacket promise much, and the reader needs to know, "how well does the author deliver?" Mann is a journalist, an excellent writer, with long experience covering medicine and science.
Journal of Latin American Geography 5.1 (2006) 130-131
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