“That was why archaeologists and anthropologists had come across the ruins of complex societies throughout Mesoamerica and the Andes, but saw only hunter-gatherers and slash-and-burners in Amazonia.” — Charles C. Mann Copy Share Image
“A milpa is a field, usually but not always recently cleared, in which farmers plant a dozen crops at once, including maize, avocados, multiple… — Charles C. Mann Copy Share Image
“In the classic successional course, each suite of plants replaces its predecessor, until the arrival of the final, “climax” ecosystem, usually tall forest.” — Charles C. Mann Copy Share Image
In 1491 the Inka ruled the greatest empire on earth. Bigger than Ming Dynasty China, bigger than Ivan the Great’s expanding Russia, bigger than… — Charles C. Mann Copy Share Image
The Paris pact was correctly described by its opponents - greens and anti-greens alike - as toothless. But it was also the first time… — Charles C. Mann Copy Share Image
“Drought indeed stressed the system, but the societal disintegration in the south was due not to surpassing inherent ecological limits but the political failure… — Charles C. Mann Copy Share Image
“The Maya collapsed because they overshot the carrying capacity of their environment. They exhausted their resource base, began to die of starvation and thirst,… — Charles C. Mann Copy Share Image
Prediction is a mug's game, but taking the side of water polluters has not been a winning political strategy for 50 years. Presidents Reagan,… — Charles C. Mann Copy Share Image
The queue of activists, interest groups, and ordinary people wringing their hands over what a President Donald Trump might do in office is long,… — Charles C. Mann Copy Share Image
“The varieties are not like islands, carefully apart,” Perales explained. “They are more like gentle hills in a landscape—you see them, they are clearly… — Charles C. Mann Copy Share Image
“export of food from Ireland during the famine: 430,000 tons of grain in 1846 and 1847, the two worst years. “The Almighty indeed sent… — Charles C. Mann Copy Share Image
“all states can be parceled into four types: pluralist, in which the state is seen by its people as having moral legitimacy; populist, in… — Charles C. Mann Copy Share Image
The way I think of it, economics and ecology occupy two intellectual silos, isolated from each other. Even when they do take each other… — Charles C. Mann Copy Share Image
