Special to the Opelika Observer
The Lewis Cooper Jr. Memorial Library is the recipient of the book: 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann.
The book was donated by the Alabama Forest Owners’ Association.
In making its donation, the Alabama Forest Owners’ Association seeks to provide sound information about forests and forest history to current and future forest owners in Lee County.
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus has been described as a “groundbreaking work of science, history and archaeology … In the last 20 years, archaeologists and anthropologists equipped with a battery of new scientific techniques have made far-reaching discoveries that have completely changed their understanding of what the Americas were like before Columbus’ arrival.
“Most of us learned in school that Indians crossed the Bering Strait 12,000 years ago, that they were few in number, and that they lived so lightly on the land that much of the Americas were essentially a wilderness. Most researchers now believe that every one of these statements is wrong.”
“Indians were here far longer than previously believed, they lived in vastly greater numbers than had been thought, and they transformed the American landscape thoroughly.
“Not only has this fascinating new knowledge vastly altered our understanding of our history, it has enormous implications for today’s environmental disputes.”
“Charles Mann illuminates all of these issues and reports on how these discoveries were made in this enthralling journey of self exploration.”
The Alabama Forest Owners’ Association (AFOA) is a non-profit association dedicated to providing management and ownership assistance to current and future owners of the 23 million acres of forested land in Alabama.
More than 6,500 members participate in a wide variety of association activities throughout the atate.
To learn more about the association or about events of interest to forest owners, call AFOA at (205) 987-8811 or visit the Alabama Forest Owners Assocations’s website at www.afoa.org.