Writing in a lucid style, Weatherford documents the amazing sophistication of Indian cultures and traces the crucial contributions made by the Indians to our federal system of government, the world’s democratic institutions, modern medicine, agriculture, architecture, and ecology. The Indians set a sophisticated urban trading economy in motion when they unearthed undreamed-of quantities of gold and silver. Foods discovered by the Indians–such as potatoes, chocolate, and chilies–revolutionized the cuisines of Europe and Asia. Some 60% of the foods eaten in the world today were first harvested by the Indians of the Americas.

“Weatherford piles up the evidence in this forceful presentation of how American Indians shaped the world’s economy, cuisine, politics, medicine, and architecture....This wide-ranging, hard-hitting, intelligent brief makes a convincing case for the stunning originality of Indian culture.” –Kirkus Reviews

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments; 1. Silver and Money Capitalism; 2. Piracy, Slavery, and the Birth of Corporations; 3. The American Indian Path to Industrialization; 4. The Food Revolution; 5. Indian Agricultural Technology; 6. The Culinary Revolution; 7. Liberty, Anarchism, and the Noble Savage; 8. The Founding Indian Fathers; 9. Red Sticks and Revolution; 10. The Indian Healer; 11. The Drug Connection; 12. Architecture and Urban Planning; 13. The Pathfinders; 14. When Will America Be Discovered?; References; Index