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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
My first audio-book. I found this quite different then reading. Instead of my mental state of reading, it was kind of like having NPR on the background with interesting but not critical information. Surely I would have been much more engaged had I read this...but I probably would not have read this and I did get a lot out of it. It helped that the narrator seemed particularly good (George Guidall)
As for the contents, the Mayflower itself is a very small part of this story which stars with English Puritan separatists leaving England for Holland, and ends with King Philip's War - which steals the book in way. The Mayflower and the Pilgrims and their Indian exploits (with treaties and also much killing and complicated politics) become simply the set-up for a fascinating account of the war which slowly escalates into higher and higher body counts, eventually taking large percentages of both English and native lives. It was quite riveting to listen to the war waver back and forth between English annihilation of Indian warriors to the Indians taking control and even seeing themselves on the brink of winning...now what would that have done to history? But it was not to be. Lack of food, and supplies and terrible leadership by King Philip do them in, and the English end up wiping out large swaths of the Indian population throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut & Rhode Island.
As for the contents, the Mayflower itself is a very small part of this story which stars with English Puritan separatists leaving England for Holland, and ends with King Philip's War - which steals the book in way. The Mayflower and the Pilgrims and their Indian exploits (with treaties and also much killing and complicated politics) become simply the set-up for a fascinating account of the war which slowly escalates into higher and higher body counts, eventually taking large percentages of both English and native lives. It was quite riveting to listen to the war waver back and forth between English annihilation of Indian warriors to the Indians taking control and even seeing themselves on the brink of winning...now what would that have done to history? But it was not to be. Lack of food, and supplies and terrible leadership by King Philip do them in, and the English end up wiping out large swaths of the Indian population throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut & Rhode Island.
First of all, everyone who lives in New England should read this book. Secondly, it should never have been named Mayflower! This book details the Plymouth Colony complete with the boarding of the Mayflower and the landing at Plymouth. Very few pages are focused on the vessel and although the title may imply the sea voyage is important, it is not! The settlement and the influence of the Native Americans is the focus of this book. Squanto will be forever ruined for you and you'll finally understand King Philip's war after reading this historical work. And yes, you should read it.
Being late November and living where King Philips War took place, it seemed an appropriate time to do some reading and fact checking. And there was certainly an abundance of facts! Interesting reading, a bit dry and rather sad to see that the religious freedom which the Pilgrims sought only applied to themselves, and "do unto others" did not necessarily apply to the natives.
if I'm being honest I didn't read a single one of the fifty pages of notes in the end, nor do I intend to shh
this would have been great if I actually cared about history and my US history teacher didn't suck
This book was phenomenal until the last quarter or so. When you get to the part about the war, stop reading.
I learned more than I expected to reading this one. On brand for Philbrick, it’s not dry and it reads more like a novel than non fiction.
I really enjoyed this book. It's a well written recounting of the Pilgrims, the journey to America on the Mayflower, and what happened after they got here. Definitely recommended if it's a part of history you want to learn more about.
Three stars for the first 2/3rds of the book about life at the time and building the community of Plymouth. Last 1/3 is all about the Indian Wars ~30 years later and I'm not down for lists of battles and who went sneaking through the swamps late at night chasing who.... (that's the part I skipped).
informative
slow-paced