Andrew O'Hehir has a review in Salon on Cahokia, the American Indian metropolis that flourished around 800 years ago. What has been found there thoroughly destroys the romantic images of noble savages and ecologically sensitive enlightenment that have dominated portrayals of pre-Columbian Americans in popular culture.
Of course the review goes for the most lurid take possible -- emphasizing "virgin sacrifices" [well, what else would you expect from Salon?] -- and closes with a dig at today's American leadership who presumably can get away with anything so long as they "keep the party going". Still it does point to what promises to be an interesting Summer read.
Timothy Pauketat, Cahokia: Ancient America's Great City on the Mississippi.
Check it out, I plan to.
