Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33204 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-03
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

The Times
'...as an example of the predictive powers of history...this fine book excels.'

Guardian
'Fascinating story...beautifully written book.'

The Times
'The adventures and misadventures of these pilgrims...are recorded in exemplary detail; this is living history at its best...'

Customer Reviews

Loses its way half way through
The first half of this book gets five stars and the second gets three, so it's only fair to learn from the Pilgrims' mistakes and compromise. Thus I have split the difference to arrive at four, rather than killing everybody in the vicinity or selling them into slavery. But seriously, the first half of the book is where the story lies: the Pilgrims' motives for emigrating, their preparations, their voyage in the Mayflower and their establishing a colony thousands of miles from home. Now that is interesting. That's why I bought the book. Whereas the whole second half of the book deals with King Philip's War which took place some 50 years later. (Philip was an Indian chief or "sachem" whose enemies mockingly dubbed him "king".)

Sure, this war is interesting, but it's explored in too great a depth. Which is a shame because I really liked Philbrick's "In the Heart of the Sea". Also, I struggled with the Indian names. I'm always surprised that books like this don't give the reader a guide to the generally accepted pronunciations so at least I'd be saying the names of places and people correctly in my head. Perhaps also a list of characters to refer to? However, I like the cover artwork and the generous number of maps and illustrations. To end on a positive note, Philbrick is an excellent communicator and I could always understand what he was getting at. This is an excellent introduction to the period and a swashbuckling romp at that!

New World...Old Realities

As I read Nathaniel Philbrick's brilliant "story of courage, community, and war" in 17th century New England, I recalled one of Charles Darwin's observations, "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." That certainly proved true of those who established or later joined Plymouth Colony as well as of the natives who eventually found themselves at war with them. Of special interest to me is what Philbrick has to say about Benjamin Church, a carpenter turned Indian fighter whose maternal grandfather had sailed on the Mayflower. Church seems to embody the best of both groups: courage, decency, cunning, integrity, resourcefulness, and probably most important of all, being "responsive to change." Unlike so many others who have also examined 17th century New England, Philbrick does not think in terms of "heroes" and "villains," although he leaves no reader in doubt about Church's heroism.

I was also grateful to learn so much about King Philip's War. According to Philbrick, "When Philip's warriors attacked in June of 1675, it was not because relentless and faceless forces had given the Indians no other choice. Those forces had existed from the very beginning. War came to New England because two leaders - Philip and his English counterpart, Josiah Winslow - allowed it to happen. For Indians and English alike, there was nothing inevitable about King Philip's War, and the outbreak of fighting caught almost everyone by surprise."

Frankly,I previously had the same "conflicting preconceptions" of the period that Philbrick acknowledges in the Preface: "the time-honored tradition of how the Pilgrims came to symbolize all that is good about America and the now equally family modern tale of how the evil Europeans annihilated the innocent Native Americans." After reading this book, I understood and appreciated that "the real-life Indians and English of the seventeenth century were too smart, too generous, too greedy, too brave - in short, too human - to behave so predictably."

Pilgrim Warriors
An excellent account of the first half century plus of the settlement of New England. We start with the Pilgrims leaving Lincolnshire for Holland seeking freedom to worship God according to their consciences. We learn of life in Holland and the hazardous decision to cross the ocean. Here their sufferings began. The ocean voyage was bad enough but being tricked by the captain of the second boat was among the other hazards.

As is well known, survival oh a hostile coast was only possible thanks to the co-operation of the friendly local inhabitants. It was a miracle that they survived the first winter. These people were like Cromwell, providentialists, who believed that God was watching over them by his providence. I do not think the author shares their faith but he writes with a sympathetic understanding of it including how the next generation lacked the vital faith of their fathers so later Puritans had the Half Way Covenant rather than requiring credible profession faith from church members.

Philbrick writes well. The book reads like an adventure story at times, especially during the hostilities of King Philip's war when the proportion of the population lost was far higher than any other war on U.S. soil. We also hear that the settler's victory was in part due to the help they received from Praying Indians, converts from the missionary work of John Eliot. The author is thankfully free from the modern trend of political correctness which would view Native Americans as saints and Pilgrims as rapacious colonisers. This is a fair treatment of the good and bad in both communities.I found it a moving read, especially when one read what William Bradford wrote late in life.

Fear not, poor soul, in God still trust,
Fear not the things thou suffer must;
For, whom he loves, he doth chastise,
And then all tears wipes from their eyes.