Simply excellent book about just how much American Indians influenced the world at the Columbian Exchange.

If you were thinking food, think again?

Weatherford starts with the silver mine of Potosí, Bolivia. Without it, he says, Europe couldn't have developed capitalism as it did, when it did.

After THAT we get to food, and much more.

An absolutely excellent book except for a pretty atrocious final chapter. I wish I skipped the final chapter altogether.

Jack Weatherford assumes the reader is white, and hence writes the very common white coddling chapter that pops up in these books. Why it was used as the final chapter, I do not know. He basically goes on to say that indigenous people have much to teach "us" but ultimately white people were more powerful and so much is lost. Personally I feel that genocide through disease is not a valid demonstration of a peoples power. To beat a drowning person to death doesn't make you the stronger, more tactical and superior. It makes you someone capitalizing on a situation that's presented itself.
Besides that though, there was a surprising amount of misinformation in the final chapter regarding the white advantage of guns and horses. Also the language was quite belittling.
I hate that this otherwise great book ended in such a terrible chapter.

Fascinating and well researched thesis on the far reaching impact of American Indians, the products of their lands, cultures and expertise. You'll never look at silver, potatoes, rubber or democratic systems the same way again.

More a focus on how European explorers stole from and exploited the natives when they arrived in the Americas.

French translation, "Ce que nous devons aux Indiens d'Amérique et comment ils ont transformé le monde".

A very readable history on the enormous, yet little told of, contributions of the Indians to the modern world.

Honestly, a dull read. That's all I have to say.

Indian Givers turned out to be an educational and at the same time very sobering read. Because while Jack Weatherford makes a very strong point as to why the subtitle of this book "How Native Americans Transformed The World" is totally appropriate. The sad fact is that for the most part, these contributions have gone totally unrecognized. The edition I read is a re issue of the book that originally came out in 1989. Hopefully this edition will go further in getting out the message of just how vital a role Native Americans played in transforming the world.

This. A. Really. Great. Book. Its. True. All. About. History. And. Science. The. World. Always. Going. To. Remain. The. Same. It. Is. We. The. Peoples. Who. Got. To. Make. That. Change. Doris.

Read this with my book club. I think the author did a lot of research. And although some areas of the book seemed a little bias. I found it still to be very interesting. The contributions that have been made to America as a whole are fascinating. I'm happy to have read the book.

Ths book is a great jumping off point for students or others wishing to better appreciate the many contributions of indigenous peoples to our daily life. While by no means comprehensive, this is a decidedly un-preachy approach to the many traditions whose roots lie in traditional practices and lifeways of Indians of North, Middle, and South America.

Learned a lot, especially about the impact of New World foods and pharmaceuticals. A good read. get it?