September 17
1493 for Young People by Charles C. Mann tells the gripping story of globalization through travel, trade, colonization, and migration from its beginnings in the fifteenth century to the present.
How did the lowly potato plant feed the poor across Europe and then cause the deaths of millions? How did the rubber plant enable industrialization? What is the connection between malaria, slavery, and the outcome of the American Revolution? How did the fabled silver mountain of sixteenth-century Bolivia fund economic development in the flood-prone plains of rural China and the wars of the Spanish Empire? Here is the story of how sometimes the greatest leaps also posed the greatest threats to human advancement.
Mann's language is as plainspoken and clear as it is provocative, his research and erudition vast, his conclusions ones that will stimulate the critical thinking of young people.1493 for Young People provides tools for wrestling with the most pressing issues of today, and will empower young people as they struggle with a changing world.
Students and teachers: Check out our 1493 for Young People: From Columbus's Voyage to Globalization Study Guide!
The Summer that Changed America
The newest addition to the For Young People series is a gripping account of the summer that changed America.
In the summer of 1964, as the Civil Rights movement boiled over, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) sent more than 700 college students to Mississippi to help black Americans already battling segregation, voter disenfranchisement, and other Jim Crow legacies. This campaign was called “Freedom Summer.” But on the evening after volunteers arrived, three young civil rights workers went missing, presumed victims of the Ku Klux Klan.
In the days and weeks that followed, volunteers and local black activists faced intimidation, threats, and violence from white people who didn't believe African Americans should have the right to vote. As the summer unfolded, volunteers were arrested or beaten. Black churches were burned. More Americans came to Mississippi, including doctors, clergymen, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to teach the community's Freedom Schools, registering voters, and living with black people as equals. Freedom Summer brought out the best and the worst in America. The story told within these pages is of everyday people fighting for freedom, a fight that continues today. Freedom Summer for Young People is a riveting account of a decisive moment in American history, sure to move and inspire readers.
Available in hardcover, paperback, and digital editions.
Charles C. Mann is the author of 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created, a New York Times bestseller, and 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, which won the US National Academy of Sciences’ Keck Award for the best book of the year. As a journalist, Mann has covered the intersection of science, technology, and commerce for many publications in the United States and abroad. In addition to 1491 and 1493, he is the co-author of five other books, including a young person’s version of 1491 titled Before Columbus.
