Mayflower

A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in history, Philbrick’s book tells the extraordinary story of the first fifty-five years of the Plimoth Colony, beginning with the arduous and perilous journey of the little wooden ship Mayflower and ending in the bloody King Philip’s War, which nearly wiped out the New England colonists and the native populations as well. Philbrick's writing style is compelling and never boring. This book is full of factual information and makes an old story new.

Mayflower is a brilliant and comprehensive account of the first fifty years of Puritan settlement in New England, culminating in King Philip’s War, the bloodiest war, per capita, in American history. That conflict effectively marked the end of the English effort to live amicably with Native peoples and initiated a policy of subjection, domination, and erasure that continues to this day. In readable prose permeated with fascinating historical information, Mayflower presents a riveting account of the English colonization of New England.

Philbrick’s book provides a great overview of America’s New England beginning. The Pilgrims were a small group of 37 English religious separatists who had escaped to Holland after experiencing oppression by the Church of England. They had to mix with 65 other people they called “strangers,” who boarded the Mayflower at Plymouth, England on September 5, 1620—too late in the season to prepare for North American winters. After landing, about half of them, including my ancestor, Edward Fuller, died of disease, malnutrition, and exposure (his son, Dr. Mathew Fuller, came 20 years later, carrying on my genetic link). Philbrick documents… show more.