Charles C. Mann

Unlike in Europe, native rulers had little formal authority; they had to persuade others to follow their ideas.

Introducing “How the System Works,” a series on the hidden mechanisms that support modern life.

'The Population Bomb' made dire predictions—and triggered a wave of repression around the world.

Before it became the New World, the Western Hemisphere was an altogether more salubrious place to live at the time than, say, Europe.