Description: Beyond Germs: Native Depopulation in North America challenges the hypothesis that the massive depopulation of the New World was primarily caused by diseases brought by Europeans, which scholars used for decades to explain the decimation of the indigenous peoples of North America. Contributors expertly argue that blaming germs downplays the active role of Europeans in inciting wars, destroying livelihoods, and erasing identities.
Review Quotes: "This edited volume represents a long overdue reevaluation of a central issue in American archaeology, history, and anthropology--the evidence and implications of catastrophic population declines among indigenous peoples in the New World."--Michael Wilcox, author of The Pueblo Revolt and the Mythology of Conquest: An Indigenous Archaeology of Contact