The Mayflower and the Pilgrims' New World
Book Review: Nathaniel Philbrick's True Story of Plymouth Colony
Nov 1, 2008
Like in Philbrick’s 2007 Pulitzer-Prize winning adult market non-fiction book, Mayflower, A Story of Courage, Community, & War, historical detail is well-documented and shared as if the reader is rolling with each Atlantic Ocean wave along with the travelers in this new book, The Mayflower and the Pilgrims' New World.
For Readers Young and Old Alike
Unlike the 2007 book, The Mayflower and the Pilgrims’ New World includes extra photographs, maps and timelines. It is also written in simple language especially for the young adult readers ages 13 and up so young teens, parents, and grandparents can understand and appreciate the Mayflower’s true story together.
The Pilgrims Arrival Turned Upside-Down
Philbrick shows the truth, drawing readers of all ages onto the beach with the first group of men off the Mayflower as they discover and pillage a food stash and boldly go on to make other choices. Are they being thoughtless, desperate, or just plain aggressive?
The Pilgrims weren’t the only ones who had prior conflict with Europeans. The various Native American tribes throughout the New England area already had their own issues long before the Pilgrims’ arrival. Philbrick easily merges the ideas, frustrations, and expectations of both groups of people, formed by their previous experiences and cultural influences.
Familiar historical names like William Bradford, Massasoit, King Phillip, Miles Standish and more are shown as the real people who worked hard to maintain family and community. Philbrick takes great effort to show the confusion and conflict of issues dividing as well as those unifying the peoples that led to King Phillip's War as well.
Philbrick clearly shows the causes and effects of both side’s beliefs and actions, as no publication prior to his in-depth study of William Bradford’s diary Of Plymouth Plantation that helped lead to this book and the adult non-fiction Mayflower, a Story of Courage, Community and War.
History-Haters will Become History-Lovers
History comes alive with Nathaniel Philbrick’s careful consideration of each puzzle piece. People who hate reading history will love Mayflower & the Pilgrims’ New World for its action and suspenseful twists at every turn. Genealogists and educators will adore the book for all the meticulous resources and straightforward detailing in the supplemental materials.
The Mayflower & the Pilgrims’ New World just might replace United States Colonial American History text in social studies classrooms across America, ages 13 and up. If not that, at least it could become a home and school resource as common as the dictionary.
About the Author
Nathaniel Philbrick is a born writer. He’s been a journalist and writer in adult and children’s market from Pennsylvania to Nantucket all his life. His books have won a multitude of major awards, including 2007 History Pulitzer Prize for Mayflower, A Story of Courage, Community, the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize for Sea of Glory, National Book Award for In the Heart of the Sea, among many more.
The Mayflower and the Pilgrims' New World by Nathaniel Philbrick
- Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
- Publication Date: September 2008
- ISBN-13:9780399247958
- List Price: $19.99
- Young Adult Readers, ages 13 & up
- 352 pages
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