"There are aspects of this story that disturb me greatly. The first is the assumption of total isolation of the Americas from Europe. This is false. There are numerous accounts and artifacts documenting pre-Columbian European trade with the Americas by Phoenicians, Hebrews, Druids, and Norsemen. With all those visits, there was (according to this theory)not one major introduction of a contagious virus. With cocaine and tobacco samples in Egypt, fired brick in Central America, Phoenician writing in New Mexico, and Druid relics in Kentucky and Minnesota (if memory serves) how is such "isolation" possible? If there wasn't isolation, this theory loses a central premise." I agree with you 100%, however, I also (by and large) agree with the premise of the article. I went to sleep last night looking for an answer, without success. I'm baffled!!(Catastrophies local and worldwide do not even get a mention)
See my reply in #30. There are several problems with the batch of "scientists" doing this research. I call them that because this type of work necessarily involves a degree of projected subjectivity in order to evoke the construction of hypotheses. It is also distorted by the nature of its funding. There is also cut-throat competition involved. Finally, most of the people doing that work are too specialized in their education and thus easily duped.
As far as the pre-Columbian populations are concerned and why they disappeared, there may well be some clues to be found in that city that was just found submerged off the coast of Cuba. I am especially hopeful for what may be found there.
I hadn't yet commented on the final third of the article, which was outstanding. Thanks for posting it. The theme it suggested fits exactly my sense of history and my understanding of ecology. Environmental preservation will give us a world dominated by pest species. Taking care of nature is not easy and it certainly isn't free. Running it by government for the benefit of resource corporations will be disastrous. In that respect, its ethic fits exactly the themes and purpose of my book. I may contact Atlantic Monthly to see if they want to do a review.