In Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War
, author Nathaniel Philbrick has put a human face on the stuff of legends: the first Thanksgiving, Plymouth Rock, Squanto, Massasoit. This book explores the Pilgrims’ motivation and preparation for journeying to the New World; those first terrible winters; the relationship between Squanto, Massasoit, and the Pilgrims; and the beginning of the horrors that led to King Philip’s War. Philbrick gives a balanced view of the Pilgrims: they were far from being saints, but they still accomplished remarkable things. I highly recommend this to anyone who desires to know the whole story of the Mayflower and Plymouth Plantation, and especially homeschooling parents who want to teach their children American history with accuracy.
“It is easy to mock past attempts to venerate and sanctify the Pilgrims, especially given what their sons and grandsons did to the Native Americans. And yet we must look with something more than cynicism at a people who maintained more than half a century of peace with their Native neighbors. The great mystery of this story is how America emerged from the terrible darkness of King Philip’s War to become the United States. p. 317
My mom gave my husband that book. I need to dust it off and read it. My husband’s 14th great-grandfather Edward Doty was the youngest signer of the Mayflower Compact. He was definitely not a saint and never claimed to be (he was one of the regular colonists, same as about half the passengers). In fact, he and his cousin participated in the first and only duel in Mayflower Colony (and drew blood) and both ended up hog tied in the square for a few hours as punishment. He drank a lot and was quite rowdy. He came over as an indentured servant to a cousin’s family. It was all an adventure to him!
April 2nd, 2008 at 4:02 amHeather – how wonderful to have that story in your family’s history! I think you would enjoy the book – I did.
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:05 amI have had this book on my TBR list forever. Before next Thanksgiving for sure . . .
By the way, have you ever seen the PBS series Colonial House? It’s a “reality” series where a group of volunteers sets out to recreate a colony in the seventeenth/eigthteenth century in Maine, I believe. There’s an unfortunate incident concerning a gay guy who decides he must “come out” during the course of the experiment, which spoils it for family viewing as far as I’m concerned, but it does shed an interesting light on the colonial experience.
April 4th, 2008 at 8:04 pmSherry – I watched Frontier House – and enjoyed it very much – but have never seen Colonial House. I’ll have to add it to my Netflix queue, or see if the library has it.
April 4th, 2008 at 9:00 pmI bought this book quite some time ago. I’ve listed it on the Back to History Challenge. Your review makes it sound even better than I thought it would be.
April 5th, 2008 at 7:28 amFramed – thanks – it’s well worth reading!
April 6th, 2008 at 3:50 pm[...] Semicolon (Winter Haven)3. Carrie (My Life and Hard Times)4. Carrie (The Cricket in Times Square)5. Carrie K. (Mayflower)6. Benjie (Of All Sad Words)7. Miss Erin (Skulduggery Pleasant Book 2)8. Framed (The Roosevelts and [...]
April 27th, 2008 at 3:20 pm[...] ~ Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick – related post [...]
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