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Hidden Cities: The Discovery and Loss of Ancient North American Civilizations
Few realize that some of the oldest, largest, and most complex structures of ancient archaeology were built of earth, clay, and stone right here in America, in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. From 6,000 years ago until quite recently, North America was home to some of the most highly advanced and well organized civilizations in the world - complete with cities, roads, and commerce. From the lost city of Balbantsha, near New Orleans, to the Great Hopewell Road, a causeway for religious pilgrims along the Ohio River in the thirteenth century, these cultures built hundreds of thousands of structures, of which a small but tantalizing portion still remain. Like the Druids of Salisbury Plain, they patterned extraordinarily precise geometry according to the rising and setting of the moon. Like the ancient Egyptians, they organized millions of hours of human labor to construct pyramids, platforms, and plazas. In Hidden Cities, Roger G. Kennedy sets out on a bold quest of recovery - a recovery of the rich heritage of the North American peoples, and a reimagination of the true relations of their modern-day successors and neighbors.
From the Spanish and French explorers to the present, very few Euro-Americans have paid attention to the evidence and meaning of this heritage. Building on recent work of many archaeologists and historians, Roger Kennedy presents a fascinating picture of these American antiquities as well as their reception among leading citizens of the young United States. On missions of exploration, politics, and even piracy, men such as George Rogers Clark, George Washington, Albert Gallatin, and Thomas Jefferson frequently chanced upon the architecture of the past. As Kennedy shows us the magnificence of the mound-building cultures through the sometimes-prejudiced eyes of the Founding generation, he reveals not only the astounding history of our continent, but also the reasons why we have refused to credit Native American predecessors with the greatness they deserve.
From the Spanish and French explorers to the present, very few Euro-Americans have paid attention to the evidence and meaning of this heritage. Building on recent work of many archaeologists and historians, Roger Kennedy presents a fascinating picture of these American antiquities as well as their reception among leading citizens of the young United States. On missions of exploration, politics, and even piracy, men such as George Rogers Clark, George Washington, Albert Gallatin, and Thomas Jefferson frequently chanced upon the architecture of the past. As Kennedy shows us the magnificence of the mound-building cultures through the sometimes-prejudiced eyes of the Founding generation, he reveals not only the astounding history of our continent, but also the reasons why we have refused to credit Native American predecessors with the greatness they deserve.
350 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
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October 28, 2018At times it seems that my adult reading now only follows in the footsteps of my childhood bookishness. I remember a picture book of world civilisations that included drawings of monumental earthworks from pre-Columbian north-America.
What I knew about pre-Columbian north America could have been written on the back of the proverbial postcard, so the promise on the back cover about discovering cultures equivalent to those of Mexico or ancient Egypt in their ability to build great monuments was enough for me to buy the book, when I discovered it in the second hand department of what was the old Dillons bookshop on the corner of Gower Street, while I was trying with some success to avoid gainful employment by studying at the University of London.
The Aztecs and the Incas are relatively well known, yet the idea of urban societies or even of dense urban settlement in ancient north-America is more unfamiliar. For many of us well fed on a childhood diet of westerns as well as cowboy and Indian dramas, the image of the Plains Indians has shaped our imagination. This book offers up something stranger and compelling - the evidence of densely populated settled societies in early north-America and the story of their later discovery and the varied attempts at understanding those remains from the 18th century down to the beginning of the 20th century.
The book begins with a description of the mysterious collapse of the complex societies mostly found in the Ohio valley, and ends with the question of why mounds (huge, massive man-made mounds) were constructed in the first place, but between those chapters we spend time with Albert Gallatin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, those in his employ and the Mormons. There is a whole spectrum of explanations and uses made of the remnants of those cultures from a religious history to repeated patterns of land use (good settlement sites and land suitable for agriculture being fairly constant) to astonishment at the scale of some of the remains.
Race based theories and the needs of the expanding colonial society also feed into the mix so the reader not only discovers something of the prehistory of North America but also something of the United States' intellectual and cultural history. The book becomes then a double journey to the present that shows the reader the biases and beliefs of succeeding generations as well as something of the repeated shock of the discoveries.
Well worth reading.
What I knew about pre-Columbian north America could have been written on the back of the proverbial postcard, so the promise on the back cover about discovering cultures equivalent to those of Mexico or ancient Egypt in their ability to build great monuments was enough for me to buy the book, when I discovered it in the second hand department of what was the old Dillons bookshop on the corner of Gower Street, while I was trying with some success to avoid gainful employment by studying at the University of London.
The Aztecs and the Incas are relatively well known, yet the idea of urban societies or even of dense urban settlement in ancient north-America is more unfamiliar. For many of us well fed on a childhood diet of westerns as well as cowboy and Indian dramas, the image of the Plains Indians has shaped our imagination. This book offers up something stranger and compelling - the evidence of densely populated settled societies in early north-America and the story of their later discovery and the varied attempts at understanding those remains from the 18th century down to the beginning of the 20th century.
The book begins with a description of the mysterious collapse of the complex societies mostly found in the Ohio valley, and ends with the question of why mounds (huge, massive man-made mounds) were constructed in the first place, but between those chapters we spend time with Albert Gallatin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, those in his employ and the Mormons. There is a whole spectrum of explanations and uses made of the remnants of those cultures from a religious history to repeated patterns of land use (good settlement sites and land suitable for agriculture being fairly constant) to astonishment at the scale of some of the remains.
Race based theories and the needs of the expanding colonial society also feed into the mix so the reader not only discovers something of the prehistory of North America but also something of the United States' intellectual and cultural history. The book becomes then a double journey to the present that shows the reader the biases and beliefs of succeeding generations as well as something of the repeated shock of the discoveries.
Well worth reading.
August 22, 2014
I thought it was a good idea to follow up on my reading of the Gears’ Ancient America novel People of the Owl by digging into a non-fiction book my father-in-law recently rescued from Savers or someplace: Hidden Cities: the Discovery and Loss of Ancient North American Civilization, by Roger G. Kennedy. The insides of the book were anticipated by the cover – a color painting hypothesizing the great expanse of Illinois’ Cahokia Mounds complex as it might have looked in its heyday eight or nine hundred years ago. Actually, Kennedy’s emphasis centers on the ancient mound-building cultures archaeologists call the Adena and Hopewell of the Ohio River Valley.
The first thing I learned was the great extent of urban and sacred architecture constructed by Native Americans in the middle of the continent starting around 3000 BC and continuing up till the time of European contact. Thousands of sites were encountered by early white explorers, from DeSoto to Daniel Boone. But of course only a fraction of those still exist today. Kennedy describes what happened along the way and discourses on the meaning of it all.
Quite the scholarly historian, Roger Kennedy was the director of the National Park Service and former director of the American History Museum at the Smithsonian Institution. I had previously read his interesting insights into American character in “Burr, Hamilton and Jefferson.” His historical angle in this work delves into the reactions of notable Americans to the ancient architecture of the Native American. No less a personage than George Washington took an early interest in the archaeological sites. It is well known that Thomas Jefferson had a keen fascination likewise. But Kennedy brings forth in his pages many other lesser-known people who mapped, studied, and affected the fates of the cultural artifacts – people such as Albert Gallatin, George Rogers Clark, Henry Brackenridge and Thomas Worthington. Through the pages we meet colorful characters such as James Wilkinson who “betrayed Washington, spied for Spain, betrayed Aaron Burr, and survived a trial for treason,” but whose archaeological reports earned him membership in the American Philosophical Society.
Kennedy also brings to life a little-known time when the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers were rough frontiers, bordering on foreign lands and populated by disenchanted expatriates, spies, adventurers, profiteers, and river pirates. Some of this only marginally informs about the native cultures and the Indian mounds, but these same personages were the first and sometimes only ones to describe some of the ancient earthworks that were soon to be plowed under or excavated for backfill.
So it’s a predictably sad story. It starts out that way, of course, as we contemplate the Great Dying, the continent-wide plagues that killed the greater part of the native population, leaving only the architecture behind. By the time the history is brought up to date, and we realize to what extent even those monuments have been obliterated, the sense of loss is very depressing.
I think it takes a strong interest in the subject matter to get through this book. Kennedy is not an easy read. His prose can be almost impenetrable at times, and even the structure of the book is somewhat erratic. Chapter by chapter and by section it’s chronological, but the reader can easily be lost within chapters as the author jumps around across time and geography. I was almost tempted to skip on to the end when the final chapters became muddled with Kennedy’s personal speculations on the mathematical and geometrical significance of the mounds. On the other hand, for those looking for a challenging book on the subject, this one is packed with detail that will sent them off to further research of their own. I know I’ve added quite a few archaeological sites to my own “to-visit” list.
The first thing I learned was the great extent of urban and sacred architecture constructed by Native Americans in the middle of the continent starting around 3000 BC and continuing up till the time of European contact. Thousands of sites were encountered by early white explorers, from DeSoto to Daniel Boone. But of course only a fraction of those still exist today. Kennedy describes what happened along the way and discourses on the meaning of it all.
Quite the scholarly historian, Roger Kennedy was the director of the National Park Service and former director of the American History Museum at the Smithsonian Institution. I had previously read his interesting insights into American character in “Burr, Hamilton and Jefferson.” His historical angle in this work delves into the reactions of notable Americans to the ancient architecture of the Native American. No less a personage than George Washington took an early interest in the archaeological sites. It is well known that Thomas Jefferson had a keen fascination likewise. But Kennedy brings forth in his pages many other lesser-known people who mapped, studied, and affected the fates of the cultural artifacts – people such as Albert Gallatin, George Rogers Clark, Henry Brackenridge and Thomas Worthington. Through the pages we meet colorful characters such as James Wilkinson who “betrayed Washington, spied for Spain, betrayed Aaron Burr, and survived a trial for treason,” but whose archaeological reports earned him membership in the American Philosophical Society.
Kennedy also brings to life a little-known time when the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers were rough frontiers, bordering on foreign lands and populated by disenchanted expatriates, spies, adventurers, profiteers, and river pirates. Some of this only marginally informs about the native cultures and the Indian mounds, but these same personages were the first and sometimes only ones to describe some of the ancient earthworks that were soon to be plowed under or excavated for backfill.
So it’s a predictably sad story. It starts out that way, of course, as we contemplate the Great Dying, the continent-wide plagues that killed the greater part of the native population, leaving only the architecture behind. By the time the history is brought up to date, and we realize to what extent even those monuments have been obliterated, the sense of loss is very depressing.
I think it takes a strong interest in the subject matter to get through this book. Kennedy is not an easy read. His prose can be almost impenetrable at times, and even the structure of the book is somewhat erratic. Chapter by chapter and by section it’s chronological, but the reader can easily be lost within chapters as the author jumps around across time and geography. I was almost tempted to skip on to the end when the final chapters became muddled with Kennedy’s personal speculations on the mathematical and geometrical significance of the mounds. On the other hand, for those looking for a challenging book on the subject, this one is packed with detail that will sent them off to further research of their own. I know I’ve added quite a few archaeological sites to my own “to-visit” list.
January 4, 2008
This is one of the most fascinating books I've read in years. Kennedy seems to know about everything under the sun. This book traces the early years of our nation through the discovery of native american epic architecture. It weaves together the strands of politics, anthropology, juicy gossip about historical figures, war and revolution.
TOTALLY MESMERIZING!!!
Dense read...I've been through it twice.
February 28, 2013
Lots of interesting material on the indigenous cultures of the Mississippi valley, especially in relation to the great mounds and architectural complexes in the first and last chapters. However, the book, in spite of its title, is mainly about Europeans in America, Washington, Jefferson, Gallatin: how they understood and misunderstood the great civilizations that proceeded the American republic.
February 24, 2009
This is a great book to read if you're traveling through Ohio. Really. More academic than 1491, more focused on North America, and ultimately a duller read, but worthwhile if you want MORE MORE MORE information about Native American cities of North America.
October 22, 2024
This review of the Indian mounds in the Ohio Valley and the South is really a history of the 19th Americans who discovered the mounds as the U.S. spread west. I didn't know much about the trans-Appalachian explorations, so I found it very interesting. Lots on Thomas Jefferson and Albert Gallatin and the era of wild land claims and false promises to Native American tribes of the region.
November 14, 2020
"Hidden Cities" was not exactly what I was expecting. However, for me, it contained much new information and made numerous connections that increased my understanding.
April 8, 2025
3.5/5 A superabundance of information here, just not the information I was expecting. Still, it was worth reading. I can't say I was taught any of this in grade school which is appalling in its own right since young Americans ought to be taught about the people who lived here before the United States was created.
Hidden Cities is less about the ruins of ancient cities and the people who occupied them and more about how European explorers and members of the newly created United States "discovered" them, studied them, and subsequently destroyed many of them. It was disturbing to read that as late as the 1950s, ancient Indian mounds were being bulldozed to make way for malls and freeways. I wanted to know so much more about the Adena, Hopewell, and Cahokian people and culture but, thanks to the manner in which their ruins were discovered and the attitude of early explorers, not much was preserved or studied in a scholarly fashion and is now lost. Much of the book bemoans this carelessness.
I was inspired to take to Google Earth and zoom in on the various mound locations. They're now on my bucket list of places to visit. I'm envisioning quite the road trip through the history of this land. Thankfully, a few of them have been preserved and monuments and museums built around them.
Finally, the book was difficult to read. Although the author writes in a chatty style, it's the kind of chattiness in which highly educated academics engage. My vocabulary and grasp of history is decent but author Kennedy left me in the dust many times. I'm also not fond of books that rely on copious footnotes rather than incorporating these asides into the main text. Jumping back and forth between main text and the tiny print at the bottom of the page was tedious in places and disruptive to the main narrative. The information was often very interesting but just as often had little to do with the main point. It's purpose was only to flesh out the backstory of peripheral people which, in my humble opinion, could've been left out entirely or better woven into the primary story.
Anyway, having said all that, Hidden Cities is worth a read. Every American should know the information contained in this book if for no other reason than we all live here on this soil. North America didn't spring into being with the arrival of Europeans in the 15th century. We ought to know the history of this land, which is our own history, the ancient history of our home.
Hidden Cities is less about the ruins of ancient cities and the people who occupied them and more about how European explorers and members of the newly created United States "discovered" them, studied them, and subsequently destroyed many of them. It was disturbing to read that as late as the 1950s, ancient Indian mounds were being bulldozed to make way for malls and freeways. I wanted to know so much more about the Adena, Hopewell, and Cahokian people and culture but, thanks to the manner in which their ruins were discovered and the attitude of early explorers, not much was preserved or studied in a scholarly fashion and is now lost. Much of the book bemoans this carelessness.
I was inspired to take to Google Earth and zoom in on the various mound locations. They're now on my bucket list of places to visit. I'm envisioning quite the road trip through the history of this land. Thankfully, a few of them have been preserved and monuments and museums built around them.
Finally, the book was difficult to read. Although the author writes in a chatty style, it's the kind of chattiness in which highly educated academics engage. My vocabulary and grasp of history is decent but author Kennedy left me in the dust many times. I'm also not fond of books that rely on copious footnotes rather than incorporating these asides into the main text. Jumping back and forth between main text and the tiny print at the bottom of the page was tedious in places and disruptive to the main narrative. The information was often very interesting but just as often had little to do with the main point. It's purpose was only to flesh out the backstory of peripheral people which, in my humble opinion, could've been left out entirely or better woven into the primary story.
Anyway, having said all that, Hidden Cities is worth a read. Every American should know the information contained in this book if for no other reason than we all live here on this soil. North America didn't spring into being with the arrival of Europeans in the 15th century. We ought to know the history of this land, which is our own history, the ancient history of our home.
February 5, 2017
I learned a lot about Native American civilizations that I didn't know from Hidden Cities. While I knew something about the mound cultures and had even visited some of the mounds previously I had no idea how far reaching the mound building civilizations were. I also learned quite a bit about early U.S. history from a completely different point of view than what is generally taught in history classes. So I liked this book, but I didn't enjoy it. It was not written in an easy style and so even though I was interested in the material it was somewhat tedious reading. I will have to find more on this subject.
January 23, 2011
A fascinating book, in spite of being tedious going at times. Few people are even conscious of the great dying that occurred in North America in the years following the arrival of the first Europeans; I was only vaguely. I had heard of the mounds but wrongly assumed them to be merely relatively small-scale burial sepulchers. I had no idea of the enormous scale, size and scope of ancient American construction. It boggles the mind. It's a shame so many sites were bulldozed to make room for the encroachment of highways, suburbia, & Walmart, etc.
November 16, 2011
This book lead me to discover an Indian Mound one mile from my house, as well as an Effigy Mound 5 miles away from my home between Milwaukee and Chicago. Many sites have been discovered and preserved since the book came out, including Effigy Mound National Monument, in the northeast corner of the state of Iowa in the USA.
January 5, 2022
Interesting but tedious at times, I thought it could have been more non-scholar friendly. Very dray at times.
I met Mr. Kennedy when he was NPS Director under President Clinton and he was very affable and interesting, I wish the book was more affable and interesting. It is a fantastic subject and needs to draw more people in, not put them off...
I met Mr. Kennedy when he was NPS Director under President Clinton and he was very affable and interesting, I wish the book was more affable and interesting. It is a fantastic subject and needs to draw more people in, not put them off...
October 1, 2008
great book about the megalithic pre historic cultures of the ohio river valley. Yeah i know.........total geek fest material........anyway- if your in to mounds...and architecture and weird history- this is a great book. you could plan a vacation around it... I have planned at least three....
April 10, 2011
This book is so information dense that I didn't get through it. Very interesting, especially the concept that we had/have ancient pyramids and cities on our own continent that rival those of Egypt and Meso America yet we ignore them.
March 5, 2010
An interesting find in a book store in Eureka, California. Somewhat tedious reading but good in informing readers a little concerning North American Civilization.
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August 9, 20149store
July 29, 2015
I especially liked reading about the early explorers who recorded their encounters with these lost cities.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews