For Immediate Release Media contact: The Field Museum Greg Borzo 312/665-7106 gborzo@fieldmuseum.org Bringing new findings to the public Mann is a correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly, Science, and Wired. His provocative book, 1491, created a sensation when it was first published in hardback in 2005 because it reveals how current research has rewritten many heretofore accepted theories about how the Americas was settled and developed. For example, it explains that in 1491: more people lived in the Americas than in Europe; the earliest cities in the Americas were thriving before the Egyptians built the great pyramids; Amazonian Indians learned how to farm the rain forest without destroying it; the arrival of Europeans set off devastating epidemics that created the worst demographic disaster in history, killing one out of five people on Earth. This is what Publishers Weekly (July 20, 2005) said about 1491: “In a riveting and fast-paced history…Mann debunks much of what we thought we knew about pre-Columbian America. He zestfully demonstrates that long before any European explorers set foot in the New World, Native American cultures were flourishing with a high degree of sophistication. The new researchers have turned received wisdom on its head.” The lecture and book selling/signing will occur at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 19, 2006, at The Field Museum’s James Simpson Theater. The ticket price is $8 for adults; $7 for teachers and students with valid ID; and $6 for Field Museum members. Pre-registration is encouraged. Purchase tickets online. The Field Museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day of the year except Christmas and New Year’s Day. For general Museum information, call (312) 922-9410. The Field Museum is located at 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, on CTA bus lines #12 Roosevelt and #146, and close to other routes and Metra. Parking is available nearby. For more travel information, call the Illinois Department of Transportation, (312) 368-4636, or the RTA Travel Center Hotline, (312) 836-7000. You can also visit The Field Museum at our interactive web site: www.fieldmuseum.org. For general Museum information, call (312) 922-9410. Color image available digitally: 1491 Cover of the new paperback version of 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus (Knopf, 2005), by Charles Mann. Courtesy of Knopf <<Back to the Press Room