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analyticali 's review for:
Mayflower
by Nathaniel Philbrick
Though parts of this 2006 book about 1620-1676 feel oddly dated in 2020 (still a little heavy on the European man perspective and heroic deeds), this book does an overall excellent job of unpacking the mythology around the Pilgrims, their settlement at Plymouth, their initial mostly collaborative approach to settling next to indigenous people, and the epic genocidal catastrophe of King Philip’s War.
If you want engaging narrative nonfiction about 17th century New England and the exploits of some complicated religious folks who laid the groundwork for American democracy, capitalism, racism, slavery, military propaganda, and politics, this book is worth reading.
Philbrick is at his best when he’s confronting the worst facts from Miles Standish robbing Native American graves on Cape Cod to the brutal statistics about the devastation of the Native American population in the 1670’s. He’s at his most generic when the story feels like it’s written more for the 35 million descendants of the Mayflower’s passengers than for anyone else.
If you want to unpack more of the history of King Philip’s War, I’d recommend Jill Lepore’s In the Name of War which is more of an academic analysis of what happened during the war and the ripple effects of it.
If you want engaging narrative nonfiction about 17th century New England and the exploits of some complicated religious folks who laid the groundwork for American democracy, capitalism, racism, slavery, military propaganda, and politics, this book is worth reading.
Philbrick is at his best when he’s confronting the worst facts from Miles Standish robbing Native American graves on Cape Cod to the brutal statistics about the devastation of the Native American population in the 1670’s. He’s at his most generic when the story feels like it’s written more for the 35 million descendants of the Mayflower’s passengers than for anyone else.
If you want to unpack more of the history of King Philip’s War, I’d recommend Jill Lepore’s In the Name of War which is more of an academic analysis of what happened during the war and the ripple effects of it.