I can't believe I read the whole thing. It's long, and not my preferred cup of tea (fiction) - but I feel as if I caught up on a lot of historical and anthropological and sociological studies that have evolved quite a bit since I was in school back when. Many interesting revelations and factoids adding up to a very different vision of this hemisphere than the one I've been carrying around since grade school. Who knew Europeans weren't present in the Americas in any kind of numbers until the 19th century? And here I thought Euro-Americans were the main event. Silly me. This book was also a marvelous corrective, it turns out, for current political stuff and nonsense in this country, which from the grand perspective of the Columbian Exchange looks like some very small potatoes indeed. Very interesting chapters on potatoes in here too, by the way. I had no idea they were such a complete food, nutritionally speaking. Nor how various they can be compared to the few kinds we see in the stores here. Even Whole Foods. Not to mention what people in the Andes have dreamed up to DO with them! Way beyond baked, boiled, fried. Way. Fun book.