Fallen From Heaven

Know about the book -

Fallen From Heaven is written by Nicholas Griffiths and published by Cambridge University Press. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 1009549804 (ISBN 10) and 9781009549806 (ISBN 13).

Debunking the so-called apotheosis myth, Nicholas Griffiths argues that Indigenous peoples in North America, Mexico, the Andes, and Hawaii during the early modern period (1492-1789) did not believe invading Europeans were gods. Instead, many perceived them as 'more-than-human' intruders of considerable spiritual power. By exploring the Indigenous context and terminology, using published primary and secondary sources, the book investigates what natives meant when they used words that Europeans translated as 'gods.' In contrast to traditional accounts, Griffiths centers native points of view and the dynamic interactions between European and Indigenous perspectives. Ultimately, both groups were fundamentally comparable since both interpreted their mutual contact in terms of their pre-existing mythology. The traditional contrast between the scientific, rational, and modern Europeans on the one hand, and the myth-bound, irrational, pre-modern Indigenous peoples on the other, is entirely misleading. The first book-length synthesis of this myth, Griffiths reinterprets ideas that have long been debated in various regional literatures.