HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION. Nathanel Philbrick's usual full commitment to his subject and his always enjoyable writing style are a winning combination in this welcome study of the tumultuous first half century of New England history. Too many readers, for far too long, have opted for maddeningly incomplete and frequently inaccurate myths to do with the founding of English colonies in North America. Regarding New England the story usually starts with grammar school memories of steeple hatted Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, corn planting lessons from "good Indian" Squanto, and then a "Kumbaya" type gathering for the first Thanksgiving. This simplistic tale is usually followed by chilling images of witches at Salem...and not much more until the eve of the Revolutionary War. The rich complexity, the sheer drama, and the haunting legacy of 17th century English-Indian relations, in and of itself, should bring together exceptional popular history writers (e.g. the always exceptional Philbrick) and readers seeking to understand the origins of the American experience. And beyond issues of native vs. colonial confrontation, there are so many more elements of the early New England story...and most are equally dramatic and compelling. The fact that the early colonial period has not produced many history books achieving popular success seems inexplicable. Hopefully, Nathaniel Philbrick's MAYFLOWER can help to change this lamentable situation. His research is solid, his story compelling, and his writing both smooth and engaging. Stodgy academics may chirp that Philbrick is deficient in deep analysis but this reader's reply is that MAYFLOWER doesn't do nuance! Instead, it tells a dramatic story, does so with reassuring accuracy, and is the kind of book that should fire the imagination of its readers...leaving them with a desire to know more. Nuance can come later. Enjoy.

Nathaniel Philbrick became an internationally renowned author with his National Book Award– winning In the Heart of the Sea, hailed as “spellbinding” by Time magazine. In Mayflower, Philbrick casts his spell once again, giving us a fresh and extraordinarily vivid account of our most sacred national myth: the voyage of the Mayflower and the settlement of Plymouth Colony. From the Mayflower’s arduous Atlantic crossing to the eruption of King Philip’s War between colonists and natives decades later, Philbrick reveals in this electrifying history of the Pilgrims a fifty-five-year epic, at once tragic and heroic, that still resonates with us today.

Vivid and remarkably fresh . . . Philbrick has recast the Pilgrims for our age. (The New York Times Book Review)

Gripping . . . a fascinating story, and one Philbrick tells very well. (The Boston Globe)

Startling [and] fascinating. (The New York Times)

Philbrick triumphs in Mayflower. (Los Angeles Times)

A signal achievement. Philbrick enlightens and even astounds. (Salon.com)

A splendid account of a nearly forgotten era in America’s Colonial past. (The Baltimore Sun)

Nathaniel Philbrick is the author of the New York Times bestseller In the Heart of the Sea, which won the National Book Award, and Sea of Glory, winner of the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize.

Imprint: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Distributor: Penguin Group USA, Inc
Publication Date: 04-24-2007
Pages: 480
Measurements: 7.94in X 5.38in X 1.08in X 0.85lb