Customer Reviews:
A Fascinting and Forgotten History.......2007-06-23
Robert Silverberg tells the fascinating history of the rise and fall of the myth of the Mound Builders in a massively-researched book. Not many people know, for example, that the myth of the Mound Builders was finally laid to rest by the work of the Smithsonian Institution in the 1870s and 1880s under the direction of John Wesley Powell, the Civil War hero and one-armed explorer of the Colorado River (note "Lake Powell).
By 1800, the mystery of the tens of thousands of mounds in the eastern United States called out for a solution, and that solution was not to be found in the Native Americans, who were considered too lazy to have constructed such great works. The mounds had to have been the work of some superior lost white race--notably the ancient Hebrews, but also others.
Prejudice was so strong that few, if any, scholars believed that the Indians, themselves, constructed the mounds (the view from our time). The logic of racial superiority, national pride, religion, and the pocketbook demanded a history in which the Indians killed off an ancient white race of "Mound Builders."
A vast continent lay at the feet of a young nation, and the only thing obstacle to its settlement were the Indians. Silverberg writes with brilliance and humor: "The dream of a lost prehistoric race in the American heartland was profoundly satisfying; and if the vanished ones had been giants, or white men, or Israelites, or Danes, or Toltecs, or giant white Jewish Toltec Vikings, so much the better."
Silverberg sees both "Manuscript Found" (1812) and the Book of Mormon (1830) as expressions of the Mound Builder myth. In about 1812, the Reverend Solomon Spaulding wrote a novel about two races in ancient America. A narrator in the story claimed to have found 28 parchment scrolls, which he translated. The scrolls tell the story of a shipload of Roman Christians who are blown across the ocean to America. Once here they meet the fair-skinned race of Mound Builders.
That civilization is described in detail, including its laws, religion, priests, money system, tools, animals, agricultural products, as well as a magical seer stone possessed by its prophets. Letters are exchanged between leaders (the Book of Mormon has "epistles"), "Censors" are the rulers ("Judges" in the Book of Mormon), and lists of generals are given for armies of tens of thousands. The mound builders also have horses and "mamoons" (mammoths).
The dead from great battles are heaped up in mounds (false explanations for the orderly Indian burial mounds of real history). The white race has continuous wars with a darker-skinned race, but hundreds of years of peace are established by a great teacher ("Bosaka" in "Manuscript Found" and Christ in the Book of Mormon).
This extraordinarily long period of peace ends in a battle near a hill. In a last battle in which the white race is exterminated, there is an incident in which a man is beheaded in a sword fight.
Silverberg is dispassionate about these similarities of plot elements to those of the Book of Mormon. "Neutral observers," he writes, "generally suggest the possibility that both works drew their inspiration from the fund of Mound Builder legends then in circulation, leaving aside the question of possible borrowing by Smith from Spaulding" (p. 96).
Silverberg continues this compelling history by showing that the Mound Builder myth continued independently of its expression in the Book of Mormon (1830). By 1839, the vastly popular play "Behemoth" had audiences transfixed with its portrayal of "Behemoth," rogue mastodon who destroyed the mound builders. Whole armies attack Behemoth, and even forts were of no protection against the raging mastodon!
During the early 1800s, copper Indian ornaments (described as "plates") were found in the mounds, and some of these ornaments were even mistaken for parts of swords. From such errors, the mound builders were soon thought to have had iron and steel. And so the myth grew (Thomas Jefferson was among the few who thought that the Indians themselves constructed the mounds).
Read this book if you would like some perspective on why a book like the Book of Mormon would emerge during the early 1800s. It is a brilliant unraveling of a forgotten part of American history.
See my negative, one-star reviews of books by Mormon authors: "Echoes and Evidences," "By the Hand of Mormon," "Lehi in the Deseret," and others. Click here: Echoes and Evidences of the Book of Mormon By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion Lehi in the Desert, the World of the Jaredites, There Were Jaredites (Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, Vol 5).
Click here for links to the following great book that refutes Mormon claims: Robert Wauchope's tiny volume, "Lost Tribes and Sunken Continents: Myth and Method in the Study of the American Indians." Lost Tribes and Sunken Continents: Myth and Method In the Study of American Indians
Your comments--positive or negative--are appreciated. Thanks.
A mound of bias.......2004-01-15
In what is advertised as a balanced exposition of the mound controversy that has raged for two centuries, Silverberg comes off with obvious bias, offering some of the most amazing sentences I have ever read. Seeking to demonstrate that the natives were constructing mounds at the time of European discovery, Silverberg describes a painting by a Spanish artist, Jacques Le Moyne, showing Indians mourning at a chief's burial ground.The grave is shown as a mound about three feet high. Here is what Silverberg says in an attempt to turn this into evidence that the Indians built the mounds: "Though the mound shown by Le Moyne was small, it may have been only the core of what was intended as a full-sized mound. If this is so, Le Moyne's painting is the first depiction of an Indian burial mound - made while the mound was still in the early stages of construction."
But that isn't the choicest piece of legerdemain. William Powell caused Congress to place responsibility for the mounds in a new Bureau of Ethnology under Powell's control at the Smithsonian. Powell proceeded to use that position to impose his peculiar notion, that the finding of European artifacts in the mounds, a common occurrence, was evidence that the mounds had been constructed after European settlement and thus proof of native origin. One of his original attacks on the "mound myth" as Silverberg calls any notion of non-native origin, involved having a bird specialist, Henry Henshaw, debunk any notion that the figurine pipes found in the mounds represented anything but native wildlife. When Henshaw was subsequently found to be wrong, Silverberg saves the day with the following sentence: "But Henshaw's blast had the value of correcting falsely interpreted evidence - even if the false interpretation had accidentally provided a correct answer!"
I can't resist just one more. Powell's chief minion, Cyrus Thomas, set out to discredit prior authority, Squier and Davis, who, strangely enough, had worked for the Smithsonian several decades earlier, that the mounds were laid out with a geometric precision that required instruments at least as accurate as those existing at the end of the 18th Century. Claiming that Squire and Davis exercised "an inexcusable degree of carelessness," in measuring the mounds, Thomas sent out surveyors to correct their carelessness. The surveyors found not only that Squire and Davis had been accurate, but concluded that only modern surveying instruments could have accomplished the feat. Pointing out that Thomas can offer no real answer - except to say that the Indians who built them must have had some very clever methods of designing huge enclosures, Silverberg drops the subject.
The Mound Builders is a prime example of 20th Century science, where preconceived conclusions are made, evidence created to support those conclusions is manufactured and any and all evidence that contradicts the conclusion is destroyed, as Powell destroyed the history of the North American continent by shipping the contents of the mounds back to Washington where they were never seen again.
If you really want to find out about the mounds and the actual history of the North American continent, click on Magazines and search out the Ancient American. You will find everything you want in that publication.
The Mound Builders.......2003-09-23
I grew up in Newark, Ohio, almost "next door" to the great circle mound in what has become Moundbuilders Park. My cousins lived near the Octagon mound, and we played there often even though, due to its status as a private country club golf course, it was located on PRIVATE PROPERTY. Moundbuilders park was the scene of countless family picnics, and a walk around the big mound was always the high point of the day for a little kid. So the mounds were very much a part of my every day life. Yet I knew very little about them, or about the people who created them.
Last week I ran across a battered paperback edition of Silverberg's book at a local used bookstore. He has woven together a great story, dealing not only with the people who created the mounds, but also with the ways in which European civilization has attempted to understand and interpret them. I was especially interested in his account of the inherent tension between the fascination and mythology surrounding the mounds in 19th century America and the genocidal policies which were being simultaneously pursued against the American Indian. Silverberg lets the facts speak for themselves without falling into the
swamp of political correctness.
In describing the efforts of various 19th century American archeologists and anthropologists to explore and explain the mounds, Silverberg also depicts an intellectual style which is as extinct as the Moundbuilders themselves. Dedicated "amateur" scientists, including politicans such as Jefferson and WH Harrison, made meaningful contributions to the effort to explore and understand the mounds and the culture which produced them.
What contemporary political figure has the intellectual spirit or temperment to make a similar contribution? (The only thing that comes close, I guess, is Al Gore's invention of the Internet.) Sadly, the advancement of learning has been relegated to the professionals and academics. The Renaissance person is no more -- and we are all diminished.
It's beutiful in Ohio in October, and with the "new eyes" provided by Silverberg I'm taking a car trip to explore several of the sites which do remain.
Brings light to a mysterious subject.......2003-09-03
I am fascinated by historical structures and some of the most interesting to me are those made primarily of heaped up soil. Though the building material is basic, the great work involved makes one wonder about the motivation required and the purpose of the builders. In my travels across the midwestern states, I've stopped at many "Indian mounds", most recently at the impressive site of large geometric structures at Newark, Ohio.
At the museum there I discovered Silverberg's book and immediately bought it with the hope of learning about the mounds. I am happy to report that this book is not only highly readable, engaging and revealing but also that it covers the topic more thoroughly than I expected. The author takes us through time both ancient and modern giving an account of the speculations and research that in many cases led people on wild flights of fancy but have ultimately given us a good idea of why the mounds were built, who built them and when. I found out about the different traditions, periods and cultures of the Indians involved with the mounds, such as the Adena and Hopewell people. I learned of the different kinds of mounds and what they did or did not contain, of frauds that distracted investigators and greed that led to pillaging. Thomas Jefferson, Joseph Smith and John Wesley Powell are just a few of the people who were captivated by the mounds and you'll find out why. After the cultural depredations of de Soto through the careless physical destruction of the past 150 years, I'm grateful that anything remains to be seen today. Maps present sites that can be visited. When I finished the book I felt great appreciation for Silverberg's work that so fully satisfied my curiosity while providing such a pleasant read. He not only answered my questions but provided many answers to others I had not even considered.
Product Description
An expanded edition of the original classic, long out-of-print, The Mystic Symbol describes thousands of Christian, inscribed tablets, unearthed across Michigan. The Michigan Mound Builders left behind 10,000 to 30,000 artifacts as a testament to their presence in North America. Mound burials have yielded evidence of a culture with Eastern Hemisphere influence in their spiritual and everyday life. Controversy has engulfed this find of artifacts mainly because they were here before Columbus of 1492 which is unacceptable to our academics today. Nevertheless, the Michigan artifacts continue to surface even today in the state of Michigan. This is fascinating look into North Americas diverse history.
Henriette Mertz has championed the cause for authenticity of these numerous and unusual tablets, tools and weapons of this mysterious people. Who they are and when they came is theorized by Mertz with a companion addendum of the current supporters to her original work.
Customer Reviews:
her favorites get the extra time.......2007-09-18
She found a nitch in this book -it had to be a favorite link in her research.
Book Description
A number of academic archaeology textbooks rudely dismiss Edgar Cayce's pronouncements about ancient history. Cayce was, to them, a “cult archaeologist” — unworthy of further investigation. The authors of those books, all scholars and archaeologists, claim that they have read Cayce's readings and found them inaccurate, plagiarized, or filled with errors and bizarre claims. In Mound Builders, the authors begin by carefully evaluating the archaeologists' “scientific” and scholarly assessments of Cayce. What is revealed is every bit as astounding as the claims made by Edgar Cayce himself. Nearly everything about Cayce put forth by the scholars in their books is an outright fabrication or a monumental blunder by these supposed scholars. When confronted by their obvious mistakes, the responses of two of the archaeologists showed how deeply divided their field is today. One fully admitted the mistakes and vowed to change his writings. Another arrogantly refused to change anything despite writing in his book he was dedicated to “truth.”
Despite the claims of archaeologists, the history of ancient America put forth in Edgar Cayce's readings has never been tested. Edgar Cayce, America's famous “Sleeping Prophet,” gave 68 “psychic readings” between 1925 to 1944 that provided information on America's Mound Builders and ancient American history. These readings have never been thoroughly analyzed and have been largely forgotten. For the first time, Cayce's statements about ancient America are genuinely compared to current archaeological evidence. The authors relate that they began with a skeptical point of view but the weight of the evidence eventually showed Cayce's accuracy. Incredibly, nearly everything Cayce related about the Mound Builders and the patterns of migrations to ancient America is true.
Since 1997, a series of astounding developments have shattered American archaeology's most cherished beliefs. Excavations have uncovered solid evidence that ancient America was probably settled at least 50,000 years ago. Genetic evidence shows that several waves of migrations came into America from not only Siberia, but also from Polynesia, China, and Japan. A mysterious genetic type has been identified in ancient American skeletal remains as well as in some modern Native Americans. This enigmatic type is also linked to Israel, parts of Spain, France, Italy, and the northern Gobi Desert. It may well have originated in a location between America and Europe. This genetic type entered America in about 10,000 B.C. and could be the result of migrations from the mythical land of Atlantis. Another genetic type could be from the mythical land of Mu.
Mound Builders also shows how evidence essentially confirms that a series of migrations to America from Semitic lands began in 3000 B.C. This evidence is compared to Mormon ideas. In addition, Mound Builders shows how several mound sites were built in accordance with Plato's descriptions of Atlantis and how numerous mound complexes were arranged to reflect the Belt of Orion. Mound Builders is truly a compelling, comprehensive look at the archaeological and genetic evidence from ancient America and the first genuine analysis of Cayce's readings on history. Contains 144 pictures/illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
Trash.......2007-03-16
This book is a joke to be put in the trash with other garbage like books by Eric von Daniken. NATIVE AMERICANS built the mounds and were not influenced by Atlantians, Celts, Romans, Hebrews, or anyone other then Native American mound builders to come before them. To say that Native Americans could not have conceived the mounds is racist, pure and simple. This debate was put to rest over 100 years ago and it is laughable that there are still books and "scientists" disputing the FACT that Native Americans built these mounds.
The Adena's were influenced by the Culture of Atlantis.......2006-11-10
This book is fantastic. I have done quite a bit of research on the Adena and Hopewell earthworks. I have been to most of the major sites in Ohio and have acquired many large scale drawings. This book did an excellent job of explaining the mysterys behind most of the earthwork configurations. One of the earthworks is an exact match to Plato's description of Atlantis. This is a good book and a real treasure!
Fabulously written book about the mysterious mound builders.......2006-09-08
This book was a joy to read and had depth and insight into the subject of the mound builders that history books never told me. I think it is one of the best books inspired by the Edgar Cayce readings I have read. Buy it! You will enjoy it tremendously.
sensationalized, highly conjectural, poorly written book.......2003-10-10
I actually rather enjoyed reading this book. Unlike previous popularizations of this subject such as Silverberg's much-overrated Mound Builders, it does not blindly adopt any particular scientific dogma.
Unfortunately, the authors, despite their assertions to the contrary, seem determined to find in Edgar Cayce a well-nigh infallible guide to the prehistory of the Americas, and are all too willing to distort scientific evidence to conform to their own New Age dogma of truth, much as academic archaeologists have so often done. The book, like most sensational books for the masses, tries to treat so many different topics that there is not enough room for supporting evidence for their assertions. They would have been better advised to choose one of their 20 or 30 topics and treat it in depth.
Perhaps the nadir of the book is chapter 12, where the Book of Mormon is used as
scientific evidence without any investigation of the origins of this highly suspect text..., and the existence of such mythical figures as Noah, Abraham and Jesus is assumed as hard historical fact. Even the Tower of Babel is dragged in. Reading this rigmarole one feels as if centuries of scientific progress have vanished, and one is back in the middle ages.
In a certain sense however, the book reads like a college-text. That is to say, its language is at once bland and politically correct ad nauseam. American Indians are fulsomely praised as possessing a culture of unexampled richness, and a rather nervous note warns readers against experimenting with psychedelic mushrooms (one of the authors is a psychologist involved in official evaluations of drug-war offenders.) The grammar is often confused.
The authors seem unaware of much of the evidence for pre-Columbian visitors in America. For example, they ignore the quite substantial evidence for Phoenicians on the Brazilian coast (they built a massive fortress there which is still standing.) In fact, the authors include precious little hard fact even about the Mound Builders. They should have at least added a bibliography. In chapter 13 the authors provide a list of 30 Cayce assertions concerning pre-Columbian America, and claim that science has validated virtually all of them. This is not true. It is correct however that man was present in the Americas long before 9500 B.C., and Cayce's information on the Norse appears valid, although I believe several researchers had found evidence for this long before Cayce. But the other Cayce information concerning American prehistory remains in the category of 'unproven'. The authors betray at every turn an extreme bias in Cayce's favor. In their minds apparently, if his assertions have not or cannot be disproven, then they are probably true.
In spite of all these grievous faults, the book still has something to contribute. It may help to
counteract the academic dogmatists who still cling to the theory that the Americas were
exclusively settled via the Bering Strait, and it may contribute to sustain interest in Edgar
Cayce, who was certainly a fascinating character, who successfully treated many illnesses by remedies he prescribed while in a trance. The book offers very many black-and-white illustrations and maps of the mounds that are otherwise unobtainable at such a reasonable price. There are much better books on pre-Columbian contact, but none to my knowledge on the Cayce connection
Update Your Knowledge and Grow Yourself.......2001-09-04
You know what you know - don't you? Do you know what you don't know? You probably know by now everything the teachers told you in school was not true, a product of ignorance or just plan wrong (if not then you are indeed in for a shock with this book). Get ready to learn some truth from this book. These authors are not shy about being straight forward with their assertions, for example: "...just about everything archaeologists have ardently believed about ancient America is wrong" or "Finally, it is important for readers to understand that the vast majority of 'facts' recorded in history books about ancient America simply aren't true. Since 1997, almost all of the most sacred 'truths' in academic archaeology have been proven false by archaeologists willing to risk their reputation and academic standing." The authors report, "...the events that occurred in the Americas in the remote past were far more complex than had ever been imagined." This work of Greg Little, John Van Auken and Lora Little further the 1960s adage "question authority" while following the key principle of get your facts straight and document your facts. This book is a shot across the bow of established archaeology, anthropology, history, political correctness, and those who think of psychic phenomena in general and the famous American psychic Edgar Cayce as nothing but nutty business perpetrated by nutty people. The evidence is very carefully presented in this book. This evidence will be very difficult for the orthodox scientist to reject if they are interested in truth and the scientific method. I bet your teachers did not teach you about Atlantis, Mu, and ancient Egyptians, Chinese, Japanese or the Lost Tribes of Israel involvement in ancient America and how that influenced the mound building cultures of America (shucks, my teachers never even told me about mound builders period). Your teachers may have mentioned the Norse people visited America a few hundred years before Columbus - although they probably did not tell you of evidence of the Norse being in Oklahoma! Mine sure did not. The authors are intellectually honest saying clearly when the evidence is lacking and/or Cayce was wrong (not that Cayce ever claimed to be infallible). For me the underlying context of this book is spiritual. Yes I was interested in the archeology, anthropology, historical and educational aspects of this book, however, the book gives rational/scientific evidence that support spiritual concepts that I have interest in as well. All the above is a long way to say I found the book a good factual read and food for though that will grow me spiritually. Who could ask for more than that from a book?
Customer Reviews:
Tribal Prehistoric Ohio Society Formation and Change.......2005-02-22
"Native American societies experienced a rich process of cultural innovation in the millennia prior to recorded history. Societies of the Hocking River valley in south eastern Ohio, part of the Ohio River valley, created a tribal organization begining about 2000bc.
This book presents the process of tribal transformation and change in the region based on all available archaeological data from the Hocking River Valley. It begins this sequence of societal change at the Late Archaic period, around 3000 BC, when people lived in nomadic hunting and gathering communities, and ends at the Late prehistoric period, about AD 1450, as communities of settled maize agriculturalists developed. Each chapter details this process based on time-specific data, and accordingly the book chapters are arranged chronologically, moving through time to facilitate the analysis of cultural change.
The overarching theme of each chapter is drawn from anthropology, linking societies from each time period to a broad model considering the emergence and expansion of tribal institutions. Each chapter contributes more data and analysis to document the process through which the descendants of nomadic hunting and gathering societies eventually became sedentary agriculturalists.
Drawing on the work of scholars in archaeology, anthropology, geography, geology, and botany, the collection of papers addresses tribal society formation through such topics as the first pottery made in the valley, aggregate feasting by nomadic groups, the social context for burial of the dead in earthern mounds, the formation of religious ceremonial centres and the earliest adoption of corn.
Suites of regular radiocarbon dates confirm the aerliest use of pottery. Detailed archaeobotabical analyses serve as the basis for dietary and economic reconstructions, x-ray diffracton and x-ray fluorescence are used to identify pottery clay sources. These and other scientific techniques collectively make possible the identification of behaviors and institutions as they were modified through the generations.
All authors have tried to produce chapters that are readable by the interested lay-person yet also appeal to the professional archaeologist."
Contents
The archaeological research history and environmental setting of the Hocking valley
A preliminary GIS analysis of Hocking Valley Archaic and Woodland settlement trends
The Bremen Site: A terminal Late Archaic Period upland occupation in Fairfield County, Ohio
The Walker Site: An Archaic/ Woodland hunting-collecting site in the Hocking Valley
Late Archaic community aggrehation and feasting in the Hocking Valley
Woodland Communities in the Hocking Valley
Woodland Ceremonialism in the Hocking Valley
The Swinehart Village Site: A Late Woodland village in the Upper Hocking valley
The Allen Site: A late prehistoric community in the Hocking River Valley
Late Prehistoric agriculture and land use in the Hocking Valley
The impact of maize on settlement patterns in the Hocking Valley
Tribal Societies in the Hocking Valley
The editors both have wide research experience and are well qualified to edit the book. It is really a book for post graduate anthropology students and researchers, not a first book (but a good second) for the the general public interested in moundbuilder society. A better first one for the general reader would be "The Moundbuilders" 2004 by George R. Milner in the fine tradition of the Thames & Hudson "Ancient people and places" series.
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Edward Palmer's Arkansas Mounds (Arkansas & Regional Studies Series)
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- Must read for indian mound researchers
- Should be essential reading
- Misleading title that reveals much more than hidden cities...
- wanders all over the place!
- The Denial of Ancient America
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Hidden Cities: The Discovery and Loss of Ancient North American Civilizations
Roger G. Kennedy
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1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
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Customer Reviews:
Must read for indian mound researchers.......2007-06-27
This was the first (and perhaps only book) to discuss the discoveries of mounds that are older than the acclaimed Poverty Point. He discusses Watson Brake and Frenchman's Bend which are over 5,000 years old.
Should be essential reading.......2006-04-11
In reference to the review below (honestly, just an ignorant rant), the full title of this book is HIDDEN CITIES : THE DISCOVERY AND LOSS OF ANCIENT NORTH AMERICAN CIVILIZATIONS and the book makes no promise, starting right there on the cover, to be an archeology book on the Mound-builder civilizations. In fact, go try to find a good archeology book on these lost civilizations. I dare you. The operative word here is "good" (I've reviewed one entry that was written at a 12-year-old level, was full of juvenile speculation, and truly deserved one star).
This is a phenomenal, well-written, meticulously researched book that details the history of a non-history--ignorance that is present till this day. While I'm steeped in acquaintances who allege they know every little dribble about "Native Americans," few have any knowledge whatsoever of the civilizations of North America that existed right up to the earliest European discoveries. Dawning awareness of these recently vanished civilizations influenced early government policies, got a lot of significant people thinking about who these "savages" they were encountering truly were, and forced others to ask hard questions about history. This book covers this epiphany brilliantly. This is important--essential even--material for any understanding of the relationship of Native Americans and European settlers. And it's out of print!
Honestly, I don't think any of this suits the current white intellectual romanticized notions of tribal peoples in North America very well and that's why so little interest has been shown in the Mound-builders. These guys worked metal, lived in cities, had complex governments, and possibly were the prime shakers and movers on this continent which makes the tribal people we love so well something of remnants, or even a side-show. Their soldiers even wore metal body armor--hardly the happy image we want and need of natives living in harmony with nature. It perhaps even explains the dignity and sophistication of many of the Eastern Native Americans (rhetorical skills alone were alleged to be phenomenal). It makes sense out of a Tecumseh who's Big Picture view never seemed to be that of a hunter/gatherer.
I've tried to research the Mound-builders and the best info I've come across was in 100-year-old editions of Scientific American. This was big news among archaeologists in 1890 and Sci-Am published mountains of illustrations of sophisticated Mound-builder artifacts. One sees these and immediately senses distant linkages to Aztec culture. Amazing that one has to dig through musty old magazines to see these!
Native American studies has become so completely politicized and romanticized in the last decades that truth and knowledge aren't even issues any more. Awareness of the existence of the Mound-builders assists no modern agenda; it's inconvenient stuff in fact, much as awareness of the complex dynamics of African culture(s)during the slave-trading years muddies the much-loved victim/oppressor duality. Politically correct thinking, which has always had a strongly adolescent cast, requires its "victims" to utterly helpless, kind-hearted, and blameless angels and its "oppressors" to be evil, brutal, uncaring, demons.
Sadly, a lot of older, and truly excellent, work on the native people of this continent is lost (like this book now) or derided. Most young people today can even imagine that someone 50 or 75 years ago could have written anything about other cultures that wasn't horrid. Heck, I know a graduate of one of the best women's schools in the country who recently was stunned to learn that a white male nearly 100 years ago (Woodrow Wilson)was actually pushing for the creation of an international organization to promote world peace! I assume she thinks that Eleanor Roosevelt started the UN. We're going to pay hard someday for all this institutionalized ignorance.
Misleading title that reveals much more than hidden cities..........2005-12-25
There was a thriving and highly sophisticated civilization in North America long before europeans arrived. Astonishingly, this fact has slowly become mainstream only very recently. Evidence of this civilization presents itself everywhere in the form of earthen architecture, or mounds, scattered throughout North America. Some of these mounds were tufts of earth that easily fell to the plow. Others rose to awe-inspiring monumental heights. And these mounds weren't mere transitory stations for nomads. They provided the centers of massive metropolises that supported thousands of people. So these mounds represent more than piles of dirt (as some may want to blithely excuse them); they represent the earliest known North American Cities. Most mainstream North American history has ignored these structures and the societies that inhabited them. And many of the mounds have fallen prey to urban development projects and "progress". Nearly 90% of the structures recorded by early european settlers have completely disappeared.
Roger Kennedy takes on this hefty subject in this book written in 1994. The title is "Hidden Cities: The Discovery and Loss of Ancient North American Civilization" but the book contains far more information than that. The title actually misleads quite a bit. And the book's argument doesn't present itself in a straightforward linear manner, either. It takes considerable effort, and a large vocabulary, to glean the book's main purpose and salient points. Regardless, this book still presents a good overview for the subject of ancient america because that history gets interwoven with early european-american history.
Following an introductory chapter that discusses some of the greatest monuments of pre-european North American civilization (such as the 5000 year old Watson's Brake, the 3000 year old Poverty Point, the relatively recent metropolis of Cahokia, and the massive society that existed in the fertile Ohio and Mississippi river valleys), the book moves directly into the views of eminent europeans such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson on the overwhelming structural evidence of the civilization that preceded them in North America. Those interested in mounds and "hidden cities" might lose interest here. From this point on earthen architure only appears here and there interspersed by numerous digressions on the various people who witnessed the mounds from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Those interested in general history will find much to savor here, but the book remains difficult to follow nonetheless. In the end, the book examines more of european prejudice against the people (collectively referred to as "Hopewell" and "Adena") who supposedly made the mounds than the mounds and cities themselves.
One of the main faults of the book is that it takes on too much in a mere three-hundred pages. Not only does it discuss the lost cities of North America, but it attempts to examine all of the following: the lives of various people (mostly early european settlers) in relation to earthen architecture; the attitudes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Albert Gallatin, and others on the subject of slavery; the views of the same people towards Native Americans contemporaneous to their time; the followers of each "school" of thought: the Gallatins and the Jeffersonians; the history and purpose of George Washington's hereditary society called "The Cincinatti"; the dichotomy in Thomas Jefferson's writings and actions concerning slavery (Kennedy wrote an entire book on this subject called "Mr. Jefferson's Lost Cause"); brief biographies of the early archeologists that assisted Jefferson in the compilation of "the first Indian museum" at Monticello; Jefferson's construction of Monticello and the mound-based design of his Poplar Forest estate; a history of seventeenth to nineteenth century european prejudice (that includes the Mexican War); the attempts of europeans to "explain away" the mounds as mere trifles of "the savage mind"; and an exploratory analysis of the purpose begind the mounds. All of that (and more) in three-hundred pages. Of course it all relates, but the text meanders to such a degree that the connections easily get lost and the associations between transitions from episode to episode blur somewhat after three or four chapters.
Regardless of its difficulties, the book offers up a treasure trove of information for those willing to undertake the effort. The most poignant point it makes concerns the fragility of civilizations. There exists evidence of a massive North American die off sometime in the sixteenth century. Approximately eighty percent of the population succumbed to some disaster (disease, resource depletion, social upheaval, climate change - no one knows for sure). Much of the preceding civilzation disappeared before europeans arrived en masse. They subsequently abandoned the grand monuments built by their ancestors. And these same people (says the evidence) had a sophisticated grasp of astronomy, mathematics (geometry), and argriculture. They lived off the land the best way they knew how, but their civilization still collapsed. Kennedy suggests that there is a lesson in this for all civilizations, and that we ignore the ancient and medieval history of North America at our peril.
So take up this book with caution. It contains loads of useful and fascinating information. But that information only comes with work. Readers will learn not only about "hidden cities" but about some of the foundations of the settlement that ultimately became the United States of America.
wanders all over the place!.......2002-12-23
If you want to read about politics, but a book on politics. If you want tread about hidden cities/ mound builders buy another book. Too much political wandering throught the 1700's and 1800's and too little about hidden cities.
The Denial of Ancient America.......2000-05-04
Here we have yet another piece of history that's been ritually ignored by the arbiters of society and which desperately needs to be taught in American history classes. People nowadays know little about history anyway, but the material in Kennedy's book is one of the first lessons they should learn (One of the central themes of his book--the denial of marginalized people's beliefs and achievements--is also found in Howard Zinn's classic, A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES). While I agree that he could have gone deeper into the actual culture and practices of the people who built Cahokia, Poverty Point, Moundville, and Etowah, he did a first-class job of rendering the conflicts at the highest level over whether we were a solely European (Anglo-Saxon) or multicultural civilization. I sincerely hope that at this point we've decided to choose the latter.
Book Description
Clan fighting over a powerful totemic mask has brought the Mound Builder people of the Great Lakes region to the edge of destruction. It is up to Star Shell, daughter of a Hopewell chief, to rid her people of this curse. Along with her companions: Otter, a trader; Pearl, a runaway; and Green Spider, either prophet or madman, she braves the stormy waters of the lakes to reach the majestic waterfall known as Roaring Water. She is determined to banish the mask forever to a watery grave.But vengeful clan members are close on her heels, and they have a similar fate planned for her.
Customer Reviews:
Great Northern Series.......2007-09-23
I have purchased the entire set of these books from Amazon. They were all delivered in great condition, not to mention how exciting it is to read about the "olden" days and how life was lived before trains, planes, automobiles, stupid music and electricity!!! WHAT????..No washer?..Go to the river! No dryer?..Wait for the sun to shine!...No toilet paper?..use your own imagination on that one! And get hooked on these great books.
People of the Lakes (The First North Americans series, Book 6).......2007-06-11
I've loved everything I've read by the Gears and I've read just about everything they have published. Wonderful interposing of fiction onto the facts! They use their expertise as anthropologists and as story tellers to combine what really has been found about North American Indians and interpose a very believable story onto it. They really make the past come alive! The inclusion of what has really been found by anthropologists adds tremendously to the books!
The Best One!.......2006-12-17
If you like the Gears and haven't read it you need to. If you haven't read the Gears try this one. This was the first one I read and I had a bit of a problem at first following there style of writing a book...but I got over that fairly quickly as things progressed and I realized what and how it was written.
These characters are absolutely endearing. Based on historical facts of the Hopewells it is a marvelous journey based on suspense, humor and the supernatural. It made me addicted and craving more of there books! Try it out, as you can see I am not the only one telling you you won't be disappointed!
Best of the series, I think.......2006-03-18
Though the book does follow the basic formula of the other books in the series, it has quirks and differences that make it absolutely hilarious and engrossing. Not that the book is a comedy, but the way the characters interact is priceless.
I admit, I'm pretty bored with the basic plot of these books -- variations on Young Person Runs Away From Arranged Future (or abusive tribesmember) -- but even if this series has left you cold due to the politics (if that's the case, just ignore the beginning), get this book! A well-turned tale, with wonderful, sympathetic characters and a wonderful tour of maybe a third of North America.
The best book in the series.......2006-03-06
I have had this book now for a while and just now writing this review. I think this is bye far the best book in the series by the Gear's. I would rate this book 10 or 20 stars If I could. The Discription on the back of this book makes it different than what it really is. It make you think everybody is travling together but they not.It made me laugh so hard I could not breath and it only took me about a week to read this book which is over 800 pages.
Book Description
A gripping new saga of pre-historic America that takes us to the Mississippi Valley and the tribe known as the Mound builders. It is a time of troubles. In Cahokia, the corn crop is failing again and a warchief--and the warrior woman he may never possess--are disgusted by their Chief's lust for tribute. Now even the gods have turned their faces, closing the underworld to the seers. If the gods have abandoned the people, there is no hope--unless it comes in the form of a young girl who is learning to Dream of Power.A masterful story of the first north Americans by the bestselling authors of People of the Earth.
Customer Reviews:
This one was disappointing.......2006-04-07
I started with book 1 of the series and loved each one I read til I got to this one. In the books prior to this, they took the time to help you get to know the characters first before diving into the plot. This time they didn't do that. It felt rushed and even tho it was full of action, I couldn't care less about what happened to any of the characters because I hadn't gotton to know them. I kept forcing myself to keep reading but eventually had to put the book down and go on to the next one in the series (people of the sea). I'm only on page 31 but I already have much more interest in the characters this time.
Historical Fiction or Fantasy?.......2006-03-02
The story of the collapse of Mississippi Valley civilization in the early 16th century. The characters are well rounded and the plot is suspenseful. However, the mysticism dives deep into the realm of fantasy and the happy ending seemed a bit contrived.
Weak .......2005-08-19
I'm a fan of some of the Gear's books in this series, and think the concept of novelizing the lives and stories of people who lived in ancient America is fascinating, but this book is a little weak. First off, this novel comes across as more "New Agey" than any of the other 3-4 in the series I've read. It comes close to being about magic and psychic visions rather than about history and anthropology. I didn't like that. Its cardinal sin, in my eyes, was the underuse of the presence of Cahokia, the greatest city in pre-eighteenth-century America. Barely a description is given of this metropolis beyond brief mentions of its walls and "the great mound". Had a chapter or two been put in detailing the might and glory of Cahokia, or had this become a novel about Cahokian culture itself, then this book might truly have earned five-stars.
Would I have read it if I knew then that it would be a story about a little girl's vision quests as a weapon against (apparently god-created) drought in the mid-Mississippi basin? Probably....but it does let me down that what could have been a tale of Cahokia the Great, was misused as a tree-hugging fable about the management of the earth, and the inner strength of the apparent weakest members of society.
Maybe someday the Gears or another author will do justice to Cahokia and write a good novel about it at its height. I hope so.
Well thought out and executed.......2005-03-16
As a fellow writer of historical Native American fiction, I found the attention to detail in this work first rate. The People of the River, takes the reader on a ride across the, river roadways, of trade and war and deceit. Drought and madness of the chief drive the people to a decision that may cost them their lives if they are wrong. A well thought out novel with a moving plot line. I look forward to reading this one yet again to find nuances, I know I missed in the first read.
Good but not great.......2002-08-23
Firstly a bit of history behind the story.....This narrative told of an ancient civilisation of Cahokia and the surrounding villages. Simply, they belonged to what was known as the "Mound Builder" settlements, so called because the people in the settlements built burial mounds to honour their dead. The Mound Builder culture, of which Cahokia was a part, had its beginnings 3,000 years ago, when groups of early Americans settled along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. These people were known as the Adena people. Cahokia was believed to be the capital city of that culture having up to 20 000 inhabitants in that area. It was also believed that Cahokia was led by a religious chieftainship, called the "Great Sun." He was thought to be the brother of the sun and his commands were unquestionably followed. His family and close relatives formed an elite ruling class. Warriors were present to guard the food crops (corn) and the villages. They had permanent positions as were depicted in the story.
For those who have read the story and who know some American history, one can see the attention to detail the authors have put into this. We have the mad omnipotent Sun Chief, Theron, and the Warrior leader Badgertail, who obeys his commands even though he disagrees with them. The descriptions of the land make the book a good read. The many different threads that make up the story; disgruntled villages rebelling against the Sun Chief over tributes that need to be paid (main plot), the love between Badgertail and Locust, the dilemma of Badgertail with obeying Theron and doing what he believes is right, the relationship between Lichen and Wanderer, the growth of Lichen spiritually to become a powerful dreamer (subplots) and the way each are connected to one another makes the book interesting.
However, it is disappointing in the lack of character detail. (The landscape detail is excellent and so are the plot and subplots). Of all the characters in the book, only Badgertail is described somewhat fully. The reader cannot predict how a character will behave because not enough character traits are given. Because of this lack of detail, the reader cannot fully engage in the story. Some examples of fantasy novels that will pull the reader into the story are Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series, George RR Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" series and Stephen Donaldson's "Chronicles of Thomas Covenant". True all these novels are much longer than "People of the River", but nevertherless are much better reads because of the added detail. An example of a great short novel is the war story " All Quiet on the Western Front" written by Erich Maria Remarque which is much shorter than this novel but is more descriptive of its characters. A similar kind of story (historical fiction) to "People of the River" is written by Jean Auel in the "Earth's Children" series but with the character analysis far surpassing this.
Nevertheless, if all you are after is a book to fill up time, this book is not a bad one to pick. However if you want a great book, go for one of the ones I have listed. They are much more enthralling novels.
Average customer rating:
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Under Your Feet: The Story of the American Mound Builders
Blanche King
Manufacturer: Ayer Co Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
United States
| Americas
| History
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| 19th Century
| 20th Century
| 21st Century
| African Americans
| Civil War
| Colonial Period
| General
| Revolution & Founding
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General
| Americas
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ASIN: 0836957423 |
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