Download or read book Imperfect Balance written by David Lewis Lentz and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Together with experts in a variety of disciplines in the natural and social sciences--including botany, geology, ecology, geography and archaeology--Lentz investigates the history and effects of human impact on the environment in the New World before the arrival of the Europeans in the late 15th century. An Imperfect Balance offers an objective evaluation of "precontact era" land usage, demonstrating that native populations engaged in land management practices not entirely dissimilar to their European counterparts.