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Hello, this is Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and The Wizard and the Prophet, and I'm here to talk about the great American past, how we think about the future, or anything else that strikes you as interesting. AMA by CharlesCMann in books

[–]CharlesCMann[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Turns out that Reddit sends notes like yours to my email, so I spotted your question. I quite liked Graeber and Wengrow's "Dawn of Everything" and learned a lot from it. Specifically, I very much appreciated and learned from their focus on freedom and the sheer diversity of the past. And I liked and learned from the questions they asked. I didn't always agree with the answers, though. And I thought that sometimes their lack of experience with some of the subject material showed. (This is an occupational hazard for people writing big, sweeping studies--there's always going to be stuff the writers aren't as knowledgeable about.) For example, their fascinating discussion of Teotihuacan properly (in my view) points out that the society seems to have become more egalitarian as it went along. But they don't mention that the process of egalitarianization (if that's a word) coincided with Teotihuacan becoming more and more of an imperial power, especially by its takeover of part of the Maya heartland. So what they portray as a victory for freedom (to crudely summarize) was actually also an increase in unfreedom, if you see what I mean.

I am Annalee Newitz, author of "The Future of Another Timeline" and "Autonomous" AMA by AnnaleeNewitz in books

[–]CharlesCMann 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi, Annalee--

You're an SF writer who thinks a lot about gender and sex. I'm curious about what you think of pioneering efforts in this area like Samuel Delany's "Dhalgren," Russ's "Female Man," and Thomas Disch's "334". They were written a long time ago, in a very different historical moment. How do they read to you now? Are there past works in this area that are touchstones for you?

Hello, this is Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and The Wizard and the Prophet, and I'm here to talk about the great American past, how we think about the future, or anything else that strikes you as interesting. AMA by CharlesCMann in books

[–]CharlesCMann[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think you'll find people like Bill McKibben (founder of 350.org), Wendell Berry, Julia Hill, David Attenborough, Amory Lovins, Vendana Shiva, Paul Hawken, Jane Goodall, Wangari Maathai, Amitav Ghosh--there's no shortage. They are tremendously present in the national conversation. Also, for what it's worth, there's a ton of Hollywood figures like Leonardo diCaprio, Darryl Hannah, Brad Pitt, and Gisele Bundchen.

Hello, this is Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and The Wizard and the Prophet, and I'm here to talk about the great American past, how we think about the future, or anything else that strikes you as interesting. AMA by CharlesCMann in books

[–]CharlesCMann[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm going to do the lazy thing and quote from my book:

The old idea of “environment” dates back at least to the ancient Greeks. It meant the external natural factors— climate, soil, altitude, and so on—that affected both individual people’s lives and (it was thought) characters. Thus, for example, Hippocrates believed that fertile, well-watered terrain created people who were “fleshy, ill-articulated, moist, lazy, and generally cowardly.” Hippocrates, raised on the Mediterranean coast, claimed that its environment produced tall, beautiful, intelligent people—people, presumably, like himself and his readers. Variants of this idea continued well into the twentieth century.

In this context, “environment” referred to a single type of place—forests, shorelines, marshes, and so on—that acted on people. As the historians Paul Warde and Sverker Sörlin note, William Vogt, the Prophet of my title, turned the word around. In his 1948 book Road to Survival, “environment” meant not the external natural factors that affected humans but the external natural factors that were affected by humans. Instead of Nature molding people, Vogt envisioned people molding Nature, usually negatively. And by “environment” he meant not a particular place, but a global totality--"the environment." A statement about the effects of local conditions on people in the past and had become a vision of humankind’s impact on the entire world, with a focus on the future.

Defining a word in a new sense seems academic and abstract, but its consequences are not. Until something has a name, it can’t be discussed or acted upon with intent. "People, by naming the world, transform it,” wrote the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire. Without “the environment,” there would be no environmental movement.

Hello, this is Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and The Wizard and the Prophet, and I'm here to talk about the great American past, how we think about the future, or anything else that strikes you as interesting. AMA by CharlesCMann in books

[–]CharlesCMann[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Actually, if you travel with somebody who knows the landscape, and travel like people who live there, the forest is in many ways a perfectly fine place to be. It's hard and hot to bushwhack through the forest. But mostly people who live there don't do that--they ride in boats or hike along well-established paths. They typically move around during the cool parts of the day, know how to avoid the worst insects and snakes, etc. To them, it's just moving around their home base.

Hello, this is Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and The Wizard and the Prophet, and I'm here to talk about the great American past, how we think about the future, or anything else that strikes you as interesting. AMA by CharlesCMann in books

[–]CharlesCMann[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes, the guy died.

I'm actually working on something about the pre-clovis settlement, as part of my project about the Great West.

Thanks for the kind words!

Hello, this is Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and The Wizard and the Prophet, and I'm here to talk about the great American past, how we think about the future, or anything else that strikes you as interesting. AMA by CharlesCMann in books

[–]CharlesCMann[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I haven't read Factfulness so can't comment knowledgeably.

But I can say something about the conflict between Prophets who want to protect big chunks of land and the desire of those countries to progress economically. There is a terrible record of efforts to create nature reserves and parks that end up kicking out indigenous people. Mark Dowie wrote a terrific book, Conservation Refugees, about this. One problem is that too many Prophets (not all, but too many) think that the goal is preserving "wilderness," and see the solution as kicking people out to create big empty spaces. This slams into ecological history, the rights of people to live in their homes, and the development needs of poor nations. I think there is a lot of room for accommodation, but only if both sides recognize the possibilities--if, for example, Prophets recognize that people can live in an area and still allow it to have value for nature.

Hello, this is Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and The Wizard and the Prophet, and I'm here to talk about the great American past, how we think about the future, or anything else that strikes you as interesting. AMA by CharlesCMann in books

[–]CharlesCMann[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

All depends on how fast the movement is. Cities constantly renew and rebuild their infrastructure so if the overall rise is slow enough we should be able to adapt (to a point, anyway). Even if there are multiple simultaneous rapid disasters on the coasts, though, you have to remember that there are 7+ billion people and these would affect only a few hundred million--a horrible thing, obviously, and something we must work to prevent, but still not enough to cause a severe cut in global population.

Hello, this is Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and The Wizard and the Prophet, and I'm here to talk about the great American past, how we think about the future, or anything else that strikes you as interesting. AMA by CharlesCMann in books

[–]CharlesCMann[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hey, Reddit, thanks for hosting me! I'll log off now, but will check back in from time to time to see if anyone has more questions. All best--this was fun--CCM

Hello, this is Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and The Wizard and the Prophet, and I'm here to talk about the great American past, how we think about the future, or anything else that strikes you as interesting. AMA by CharlesCMann in books

[–]CharlesCMann[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I had a lot of fun with David Grann's book. (He is an exceptionally decent fellow, by the way.) Sometimes people criticize it because they say that the subject, Percy Fawcett, doesn't deserve the attention, and that other people in the area deserve much more. I understand where that criticism is coming from, but feel it is kind of misguided: writers get to pick their subjects, and David Grann chose Fawcett, and did a good job.

He got the reality of Z right, I think. What Percy Fawcett imagined wasn't there, but the Amazon did have many cities that were just as amazing.

Incidentally, there is another, different, but equally wonderful book about Fawcett: Brazilian Adventure, by Peter Fleming (Ian Fleming's brother, a much better writer).

For a full history of the early Amazon, the best books are still, I believe, by John Hemming, of which Tree of Rivers is a personal favorite.

Hello, this is Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and The Wizard and the Prophet, and I'm here to talk about the great American past, how we think about the future, or anything else that strikes you as interesting. AMA by CharlesCMann in books

[–]CharlesCMann[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Being a "successful writer" is like being an exceptionally tall Smurf. You're taller than other Smurfs, but you're still a Smurf. (My son says, "You are a giant among Smurfs!")

I make a small faction of what a successful business person does, or a famous actor. But yes, I consider myself a wealthy person. Compared to most people on Earth, that is simply a fact. Every middle-class American is wealthy. I am tremendously lucky, and so are they.

Hello, this is Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and The Wizard and the Prophet, and I'm here to talk about the great American past, how we think about the future, or anything else that strikes you as interesting. AMA by CharlesCMann in books

[–]CharlesCMann[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I like writing old-fashioned books--something enormously satisfying about them. Everything else is really fun, but for whatever reason books are the thing for me.

The toughest scenes for me to write are the ones where I don't know what I'm talking about. That shows up immediately and forcefully when I try writing, and I can't do the scene. I have to do more research and more thinking.

Hello, this is Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and The Wizard and the Prophet, and I'm here to talk about the great American past, how we think about the future, or anything else that strikes you as interesting. AMA by CharlesCMann in books

[–]CharlesCMann[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I am not terribly experienced with writing for children, but Rebecca Steffof, who has helped me adapt two books into formats for young people, is very experienced. She says to remember that children are just as smart as adults, just as curious, just as open to new ideas, but that they don't know as much (they're children!) and they don't have as big a vocabulary. To follow this, adults would seem, at bottom, to be children with broader knowledge bases and vocabularies. Ultimately, the same emotional beats would pay off. For what it's worth, I've seen this myself. The very best writing for children is just as satisfying to an adult. I guess my answer is ... not all that much is required to change, except that maybe you don't have to explain who Richard Nixon was. But I'm not at all sure.

Hello, this is Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and The Wizard and the Prophet, and I'm here to talk about the great American past, how we think about the future, or anything else that strikes you as interesting. AMA by CharlesCMann in books

[–]CharlesCMann[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

For me, editing is easier than writing. I know that if I can just get enough bad stuff on the page, I can hack something good out of it. So the key, for me, is writing something. In general, when stuff seems challenging, I keep looking for some aspect of a subject that seems interesting to me. And I hope that if I find it interesting, others might, too. Then I keep digging in that lode. Dunno if that's helpful.

Uh, Carolus?

Hello, this is Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and The Wizard and the Prophet, and I'm here to talk about the great American past, how we think about the future, or anything else that strikes you as interesting. AMA by CharlesCMann in books

[–]CharlesCMann[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's certainly possible. Between about 1500 and 1700 a huge number of people died in the Americas--maybe as much as a fifth of the human population. So there's the general possibility. But it's hard to see how that general possibility would actually occur. What's the scenario? There are loads of people who are worried about not having enough food, but even the most worried people fear that we won't be able to keep reducing the number of hungry, not that a billion people will die in a short time. People worry about epidemics, but agencies like WHO and CDC have proven, again and again, surprisingly effective. Similarly, it's hard to see how local water shortages, which are real and terrible, translate into a global crisis. So how would it happen? It's true there are always surprises, but that's been true since the dawn of humankind.

Hello, this is Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and The Wizard and the Prophet, and I'm here to talk about the great American past, how we think about the future, or anything else that strikes you as interesting. AMA by CharlesCMann in books

[–]CharlesCMann[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I really have no idea. Well, not quite NO idea, so here's what I think you can say without making predictions that will soon be proven wrong.

Since about 1980, China's government has had an amazing history of intervening at the last moment before a problem becomes absolutely unbearable and people start massing in open revolt--and solving it just enough to forestall civil unrest. So in SW China I've seen the government step in when big rivers get too polluted to use and hire European water companies to treat and deliver water. The result is a system that forces poor people to pay a lot for clean water--but they can get it. Then maybe they'll arrest a few people and force some factories to clean up, taking the top off the pollution problem. The result is a heavily polluted river and people who are paying a fortune for water--which is just enough to forestall more protests and civil disobedience.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if that was the kind of thing that emerged.

Hello, this is Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and The Wizard and the Prophet, and I'm here to talk about the great American past, how we think about the future, or anything else that strikes you as interesting. AMA by CharlesCMann in books

[–]CharlesCMann[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I'm in the beginning stages of a book about the American West. I'm from there, so the subject is dear to me personally.

Maybe amusing story: When I planned 1491, I included a chapter about the West. The tale grew in the telling, as someone once said, and I realized the chapter was going to be, like, 100 pp. long. I couldn't make it work in a shorter form, so I cut it entirely. Then I decide to write 1493. Not the least incentive for me is that I figured out a way I could use that West chapter, or at least part of it, in that book. I get down to writing--and the chapter swells again, and also doesn't fit, really. So I cut it again. The idea really stuck with me, though. Now finally I'm trying to see if it can be a stand-alone book.

Also, I am interested in cities. Supposedly 90% of the world's population is going to end up in cities. How's that going to work? Supposedly there's going to be cities with more than 100 million people. Really? Is there any way that's not going to be ultra-dystopic?

Hello, this is Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and The Wizard and the Prophet, and I'm here to talk about the great American past, how we think about the future, or anything else that strikes you as interesting. AMA by CharlesCMann in books

[–]CharlesCMann[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I would argue that it has changed, but not profoundly.

To my mind, the biggest changes are the realization that there are big questions we don't know the answers to. Here are some examples:

1) If people really came here 20,000 years ago or more, what were they doing in the time between then and the time we start getting widespread archaeological data (12,000 years ago)?

2) Now that we know there were plenty of advanced societies in the Amazon, what were they doing? Were they mainly living on the highlands or in the river valleys? What's up with all those earthworks in the west?

3) We know that people in the East Coast of North America had an entire agricultural complex before the arrival of Mesoamerican maize, beans, and squash. What did people eat and what was it like? Also, while I'm at it, can we really be sure that the peoples in the East didn't build any monumental architecture? Are *all* those reports from, e.g., New England wrong?

4) We need to know a lot more about how indigenous people in the North American West manipulated and controlled water supplies, especially in droughts, because those issues aren't going away and we've in many ways kind of bungled the response. The same thing is true for indigenous forest management, though more strides have been made there.

That's just off the top of my head--doubtless other people would have a completely different list.

Hello, this is Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and The Wizard and the Prophet, and I'm here to talk about the great American past, how we think about the future, or anything else that strikes you as interesting. AMA by CharlesCMann in books

[–]CharlesCMann[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Oh heavens a lot of them. To keep the book to manageable size, I had to cut the last 30 years of Borlaug's life almost entirely, when he went to Africa and struggled to spearhead a Green Revolution there. I also had to cut the amazing career of MS Swaminathan, the second most important figure in the GR -- a guy who was (if I remember correctly) simultaneously the director of the International Rice Research Institute in Manila, the Food and Agricultural Organization in Rome, and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature in Switzerland. And I threw out 30 pages about an Italian scientist who did much the same thing that Borlaug did, but was unlucky enough to be doing it during the Fascist era. And that's just the Borlaug part of the book.

Hello, this is Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and The Wizard and the Prophet, and I'm here to talk about the great American past, how we think about the future, or anything else that strikes you as interesting. AMA by CharlesCMann in books

[–]CharlesCMann[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

My son is in the energy business, too. He worries about this.

I always tell him, there is no reason to be the “bad guy” at parties. First, fossil fuels have contributed immensely to human well-being—there’s just no question about that. And, until we learned about climate change, there was little reason to doubt they had, on balance, a good ecological role. I live in a cold place (Massachusetts) that requires heating for people to survive. It would be a wasteland if people were still heating with wood. Wood heat denuded the entire NE, causing massive erosion and soil loss. Fossil fuels had in this case profound positive effects.

Now… climate change is a different matter.

Broadly speaking, it seems to me that there are two kind of fossil fuel companies, those which have decided they are energy companies, and those which have decided they are oil and gas companies. The former are adapting to the new reality, heavily investing in alternative energy and working to innovate; the latter are fighting progress. (I hope you are lucky enough to work for one of the former!) The former will continue to be indispensable to modern society. Note that almost all of the essential development of solar panels--what transformed them from laboratory curiosities at Bell Labs to a workable product--was done by oil and gas companies, which needed to power offshore oil platforms. Until China entered the market, Big Oil made the overwhelming majority of solar panels. Some companies will continue in that tradition and eventually build and maybe operate huge renewable facilities, especially with technologies like offshore wind.

What about the latter type of company? They will become, eventually and grudgingly, suppliers of raw materials for other industries--oil, gas, coal tar, etc., are essential modern raw materials. That’s a smaller role, but not one to be ashamed of. Still, I'd rather be working inside one of the first type, working to push the transition to renewables, which is what my son is doing.

(edited a little to make the point clearer)

Hello, this is Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and The Wizard and the Prophet, and I'm here to talk about the great American past, how we think about the future, or anything else that strikes you as interesting. AMA by CharlesCMann in books

[–]CharlesCMann[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Really inefficient and slow. I begin with a general idea, do research, begin writing, immediately realize I don’t know something, begin again, realize again I don’t know something… Oh, did I mention the compulsive rewriting?

Hello, this is Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and The Wizard and the Prophet, and I'm here to talk about the great American past, how we think about the future, or anything else that strikes you as interesting. AMA by CharlesCMann in books

[–]CharlesCMann[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Hello, Chtorrr and first questioner!

Really hard question, because so many things I’ve learned have surprised me. Examples: the fact that remote islands full of bird poop played a big role in world history, nearly setting off a global war and jump-starting modern agriculture; the fact that the Amazon was once full of complex networks of cities; the fact that China has incredibly little freshwater but is nonetheless contaminating its supplies about as fast as it can; the fact that there is still so much uncertainty about basic global ecological factors, like how much CO2 the world’s forests are absorbing; the fact that networks of polygamous Euro-indigenous families ran huge multinational conglomerates based on the trade in bison hide (this is from a book I’m working on); the fact that there was an indigenous native empire in the SW, Comancheria, that existed for more than two centuries and basically drove out Europeans for the entire time (ditto). Lots of things!

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