Customer Reviews

The Mayflower and the Pilgrims' New World

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Nathaniel Philbrick has adapted and abridged his New York Times bestselling historical narrative MAYFLOWER: A Story of Courage, Community, and War for a younger audience. THE MAYFLOWER AND THE PILGRIMS' NEW WORLD includes numerous sketches, maps and photographs of artifacts, detailed timelines and insets of historical biographies, all of which add to its accessibility.

The book begins with an English colony of Separatists living quietly in Leiden, Holland, longing for the quiet and familiar English village life now lost to them, and determined to establish a small, inwardly focused colony in the New World where they would be free to worship as they chose. Some of the most vivid prose deals with the Pilgrims' preparations for their journey. The writing deftly captures both their fear of the perilous journey they felt compelled to undertake, and the stoicism and courage of this small and humble congregation in the face of their low odds of success.

Philbrick makes it easy to visualize the triumphs and frustrations of the daily lives of the Pilgrims, from the terrible death toll on the high seas to the difficult first landing in Cape Cod and their subsequent move to the more hospitable Plymouth Bay. An eerie emptiness greeted them on the Massachusetts coast --- a plague had recently decimated the locals. In this dangerous and new land, they encountered the Pokanoket Indians and their charismatic sachem Massasoit, whose initial offer of help and protection saved them from certain death.

The friendship, cooperation and mutual dependence that grew between the Indians and the Pilgrims lasted 50 years. However, as the Pilgrims' reach into New England grew and the Indians began to recognize the threat they represented, and both groups grew less dependent on each other, it became increasingly difficult to maintain peace. Massasoit's son Philip brashly launched a complicated war (now known as King Philip's War) that claimed the lives of eight percent of the men of Plymouth Colony. Terrible as these deaths were to the colonists, the Indians were to suffer even graver losses, with 60-80% of the Native American population of southern New England lost during those and subsequent years through death, disease, being sold into slavery, or by fleeing the region.

Philbrick effectively dispatches the various mythologies and romances surrounding those times, instead giving us complex, fallible and believable figures in Massasoit, William Bradford, Squanto and company. The famed First Thanksgiving meal (probably held in late September or early October of 1621), for example, did not involve Pilgrims and Indians sitting in a tidy group at a long table and praying together as popular Victorian art would have it. Instead, "most of the celebrants stood, squatted, or sat on the ground as they gathered around outdoor fires, where the deer and birds turned on wooden spits and where pottages --- stews into which varieties of meats and vegetables were thrown --- cooked invitingly." There were no pumpkin pies or cranberry sauce. The Pilgrims ate with their hands and with knives, since forks did not make their appearance at Plymouth Colony until near the end of the 17th century. The first Thanksgiving meal was not a spiritual ceremony but more in the nature of a secular harvest festival; the Pilgrims themselves did not use the term "Thanksgiving."

It is utterly fascinating to read a clear-eyed and well-researched account of such significant times in America's history. The descriptions, although not excessively graphic, make it clear that neither the colonists nor the Indians were above butchering women and children, and such gruesome acts as displaying the heads of captured enemies on pikes. Philbrick manages to desanitize an important piece of American history while in no way diminishing the more thrilling aspects of the story or denigrating these beloved historical figures. This book would make a valuable addition to any school library.

--- Reviewed by Usha Reynolds

The Mayflower and the Pilgrims' New World is a very well written book that I enjoyed immensely. Much of the information contained in this book I did not know and I found it exciting as well as informative. Being a born New Englander with immigrant as well as Native American blood, I am a little ashamed that I did not already know the true story of the Pilgrims and their adventures. This book is not a book that paints a flowery picture of colonial life but a harsh and sometime tragic tale. I am now bitten by the bug to know even more of the rich history of both the New World settlers and the original native peoples. Thank you Nathaniel for opening my eyes to the history in my own back yard...

I love the writing style of this book that was "adapted for young people" from the "adult" version of "Mayflower".
It is a captivating account of the settling of the Plymouth Colony and know that I was happier reading this version (I have several post graduate degrees by the way) than I would have been reading the "adult" version. Five stars and it is no wonder Nathaniel Philbrick won the National Book Award.

"Thanksgiving Day has a whole new meaning once the true story of the pilgrims' settlement along Cape Cod comes into light in this book...History comes alive with Philbrick's careful consideration of each puzzle piece.. bringing both worlds of the Puritans and the Native Americans together as they truly happened...(more)" ~ Lynn Pritchett, Contributing Writer at Suite101.com

In my opinion, this book is best by chapters -- it's great for a student researching a report or looking for specific information. As an adult, I enjoyed the entire book, but depending on the age and ctendencies of your student, you may want to be selective.

This book provides valuable information in maps and portraits and photographs of museum pieces. The maps are particularly good. Don't miss the who's-who at the beginning of the book and the timelineat the end. The book has a good index, and also a Mayflower passenger list.

The first part of the book follows the Pilgrims from England to Leiden, Holland, and explores the personalities, characters and context. We read as they board their tiny ship and set out for America, and we learn about what went wrong with the voyage and the new colony: almost everything.

In the second part of the book, the Pilgrims build their relationships with the native American people, and learn to succeed and prosper in their colony.

The third part of the book deals specifically with King Philip's War, a 14-month series of battles against the entire native population of the region.

The epilogue is a stale rehash of Jean Fritz's book "Who's That Stepping on Plymouth Rock?"

The author, Nathaniel Philbrick, seems to believe that part of his responsibility is mythbusting, but the myths he busts are Baby-Boomer myths about the Pilgrims. He goes out of his way to explode the traditional depictions of the dress, menu, and table settings at the first Thanksgiving celebration in 1621. Multiple times. Shocker: kids in 2012 have been brought up with excellent resources like these:

The Landing of the Pilgrims The Landing of the Pilgrims (Landmark Books)
You Wouldn't Want to Sail on the Mayflower! You Wouldn't Want to Sail on the Mayflower!: A Trip That Took Entirely Too Long
If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 . . . If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620
If you were at the First Thanksgiving Dinner If You Were At The First Thanksgiving
...and many more, simply excellent and up-to-date books. Philbrick isn't breaking new ground here.

He does a good job of showing how the Pilgrims compromised on their ideological purity in order to cooperate with the Indians, the Mayflower crew members, and the "Strangers" who traveled to America with them. When survival was at stake, the Pilgrims overcame their isolationism, while still keeping their principles (the Sabbath as a Holy Day, strong work ethic, etc).

Philbrick makes of a point of detailing the miserable conditions the Pilgrims faced and showing their trust in God's providence. Around page 168, he makes a strong case for individual initiative (not collectivism) as the well-spring of American prosperity. He justifies the amounts paid for Indian land by the settlers as fair transactions between private parties, but he points out that the Indians may not have understood they were giving up all access to the properties, especially in the first transactions. However, as time went by, the sachems were trading land willy-nilly to buy arms to conduct an offensive war; they considered the prices they got to be fair, even if modern eyes see the transactions as entirely one-sided.

Often, the tone of the book is that of peaceful, non-aggressive Indians fighting defensive battles against the marauding New Englanders... interspersed with pages of completely understandable Indian raids and dismemberments of the settlers, who obviously had it coming to them. A bit of a puzzle for young people to sort out that intellectuals always blame America first.

Well-explained battles, great maps, very interesting source material.

I ordered this edition by mistake. I already had the "adult" version, and this version is a wonderfully down-sized version for young people. It loses none of the significance of the first. If only history teachers would teach from books like this! It would make history live!

An engaging journey with the Pilgrims. Having read this makes a visit to Cape Cod so much more meaningful. This book puts people and places in perspective.

I haven't finished this book yet, but so far it's pretty boring. On the front cover it says,"Adapted for Young people." It hardly tells the truth. The language is made for adults and teens wouldn't be interested in it. One of my friends read it too and said she regrets buying it. The facts are all there and it tells the story well, but not for young people.

This is agood book about the Pilgrims and their travels until they had set up the first permanent English settlement in America.
Written in language of today so easy read.

This seems to be just a bit shorter and has more pictures, the text is not particularly easy to read but not bad either....might be "cleaner" in content than the adult book but that's about it.