This simple question launches acclaimed author Nathaniel Philbrick on an extraordinary journey to understand the truth behind our most sacred national myth: the voyage of the Mayflower and the settlement of Plymouth Colony. As Philbrick reveals in this electrifying new book, the story of the Pilgrims does not end with the First Thanksgiving; instead, it is a fifty-five-year epic that is at once tragic and heroic, and still carries meaning for us today.
Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys history and is interested in an in-depth historical account of the settlement of the Plymouth Colony in North America by English colonists and their interaction with Natives.
The author, Nathaniel Philbrick wrote a well-researched, exhaustive timeline of events with some interjections of modern reference which I very much appreciated. No detail regarding colonial life during the 1600s was left out. It included incredible and interesting details about civil conflict, King Philip’s War, religion, culture, emotional turmoil, lifestyle, tradition, agriculture, enslavement, disease, and property dispute.
There were a few parts that were a little dry for me to read but it’s a solid narrative that portrayed both intent and outcome. The author did not sugar coat the impact and devastation of invasion and war or attempt to rewrite history for storyline appeal or political correctness. I really liked that the author wrote with the tone and perspective of the times, yet was able to bring some comparative situations to today without romanticizing the present nor the past.
