Book Review: Mayflower

Nathaniel Philbrick is my favorite nonfiction writer. I have read every book of his including the gripping"In the Heart of the Sea" and "Sea of Glory". All of his subjects tend to be nautical related, however in his latest work" Mayflower" he takes a more land based approach.

If you think you have an idea of how America began, and the story of the first colonies, be prepared to cast aside old assumptions. The Story begins by chronicling the motivations for leaving Europe in the first place. Why would a small group of English exiles living in Holland venture to a unknown world?

Once the exiles land in what is today New England the gripping tale unfolds with drama akin to James Feinmore Coopers" The Last of the Mohichans". Philbrick manages to capture the grime and foreboding of the time, and creates a taut sense of uneasiness throughout. All along the reader will find themselves wishing for the better part of human nature to prevail, only to be dissapointed and suprised.

The Tale takes a multi generational approach that covers over a century, but at the end feels connected to the charachters introduced at the onset. In conclusion I would like to quote a few paragraphs from the last chapter as I think they sum up the whole sad affair nicley:

"By forcing the English to improvise, the Indians prevented Plymouth Colony from ossifying into a monolithic cult of religious extremeisim. For their part, the Indians were profoundly influenced by the English and quickly created a anew and dynamic culture full of Native and Western influences. For a nation that has come to recognize that one of its greatest strengths is its diversity, the first fifty years of Plymouth Colony stand as a model of what America might have been from the Beggining."

"By the midpoint of the seventeenth century, however, the attitudes of many of the Indians and English had begun to change. With only a fraction of their original homeland remaining , more and more young Pokanokets claimed it was time to rid themsleves of the English. The pilgrims children, on the other hand, coveted what territory the Pokanokets still possessed and were already anticipating the day when the Indians had, through the continued efforts of Disease and poverty , ceased to exist. Both sides had begun to envision a future that did not include the other."

4/5