Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World

With Thanksgiving coming up in a few days, it seems like a good time to think about the Native Americans who enabled the colonists to survive. Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World, reminds us how much we owe the Native Americans. I'm only a few chapters in, but I've already learned how the gold and silver the Europeans took made a world economy possible, how potatoes improved the lives of peasants and farmers, and how cotton helped make the Industrial Revolution possible. That said, the way the Europeans (and later Americans) treated the Native Americans is one of the world's great tragedies. I'd heard of an alternate history that has the two worlds meeting on more equal footing. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name off the top of my head. If someone else remembers it, please feel free to post it.