Cahokia: The Great City of Ancient America on the Mississippi, by Timothy R. Pauketat, deals with the history, society, and religious customs of the Cahokian people. Consisting of twelve chapters, each chapter deals with a different aspect of Cahokian society. The first chapter opens by telling the reader how the stars in the sky played an important role in the Native American belief system. The planet Venus was the key figure in all this, in fact the ancient Mayans believed that Venus was a god. According to the Cahokians, Venus had a dual nature, during the day Venus was seen as masculine and in the evening as feminine. In the same chapter, Pauketat informs us of the discovery of two hundred earthen mounds built in an area of ​​five square miles that represented the belief systems of the Cahokian people. Historical archeology was the main reason for the discovery of two hundred earth-filled mounds. At its peak, Cahokia had a population of over ten thousand, not including the people who lived in the surrounding towns. By the early 1800s, European Americans had already been living in North America for some time; however, many Europeans refused to acknowledge the role of Native Americans in building these ancient mounds. Instead, they believed the mounds were built by a race of non-Indians. Due to Cahokia's preservation within a state park and a modern highway system, many things were lost. Because so much has been lost, very few archaeologists have a good understanding of Cahokia. While the full picture may be missing, archaeologists are still making progress with numerous discoveries. These discoveries call into question long-standing beliefs, such as that of a peaceful and ... middle of paper ... son, unpredictable and subhuman people, a trickster sometimes associated with the underworld as a spirit or god. Scholars who study these things notice a duality in culture, that is, good and bad, men and women, and so on. This book also discusses things like who their descendants are and the use of treasure maps to discover new things. Concepts such as who the descendants are and how to use treasure maps to discover new things. This book was an easy read, in fact the chapters flew by quite quickly, because they flew by quickly, I often had to re-read some sections. Making this book an easy read, Pauketat does a good job of not assuming anyone knows about Cahokian culture. However, he does a great job of explaining things in detail. Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about Native American culture.