Mayflower

A Story of Courage, Community, and War

De: Nathaniel Philbrick

Narrado por: George Guidall

From the perilous ocean crossing to the shared bounty of the first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrim settlement of New England has become enshrined as our most sacred national myth. Yet, as best-selling author Nathaniel Philbrick reveals in his spellbinding new book, the true story of the Pilgrims is much more than the well-known tale of piety and sacrifice; it is a 55-year epic that is at once tragic, heroic, exhilarating, and profound.

The Mayflower's religious refugees arrived in Plymouth Harbor during a period of crisis for Native Americans as disease spread by European fishermen devastated their populations. Initially the two groups, the Wampanoags, under the charismatic and calculating chief Massasoit, and the Pilgrims, whose pugnacious military officer Miles Standish was barely five feet tall, maintained a fragile working relationship. But within decades, New England would erupt into King Philip's War, a savagely bloody conflict that nearly wiped out English colonists and natives alike and forever altered the face of the fledgling colonies and the country that would grow from them.

With towering figures like William Bradford and the distinctly American hero Benjamin Church at the center of his narrative, Philbrick has fashioned a fresh and compelling portrait of the dawn of American history, a history dominated right from the start by issues of race, violence, and religion.

©2006 Nathaniel Philbrick (P)2006 Penguin Audio, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., and Recorded Books, LLC. All rights reserved.

Reseñas de la Crítica

ALA Notable Book Winner, 2006

Booklist Editor's Choice, 2006

Chicago Tribune Best Books of 2006

New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year, 2006

Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year - Adult, 2006

Pulitzer Prize Finalist - History, 2007

San Francisco Chronicle Best Books, 2006

Washington Post Best Books of 2006

"Impeccably researched and expertly rendered, Philbrick's account brings the Plymouth Colony and its leaders...vividly to life. More importantly, he brings into focus a gruesome period in early American history." (Publishers Weekly)

"Startling [and] fascinating." (The New York Times)

Perfect!

This is simply the best account of Pilgrim and Indian history I have ever heard.

WHAT THE TEACHER DIDN'T TELL YOU

The Pilgrim story not glorified, not glamorized. Insight into the Indian - Settler relationship. Cohesive, Historical, storytelling. It was real, well done and flowed well until the King Philips War segments of which were disjointed just as the war was. It was scattered as the war was. A horrendous part of our early history not usually presented in our educatioal systems. Everyone should know the senerio portrayed. I learned and I liked it. Recommended

Excellent

I have listened to this book several times from start to finish and numerous parts of it even more. The author does a wonderful job brining the 17th century characters and events to life. Much of the story was already known to me but the details and the narration really provide great entertainment! It is so important for Americans of the 21st century to understand who our ancestors were of the 17th century, and to learn and appreciate what motivated many of them. So many Americans today have terrible misconceptions about our 17th century colonists to the new world..this book will help to better complete a very poorly taught part of our American past to Americans of today.

Masterpiece

This work is what you would expect from Philbrick; detailed and easy to read with a stunning amount of information for a relatively short volume. The narrator is first rate. Two thumbs up.

History we never hear about

This was rough to listen to because it is a part of our history that we never hear about in school. I found myself saying "what if" many times.

Mayflower a Great audio book

I really enjoyed this book, the narrator really kept my attention and the contents of the book kept my attention.

Interesting book

Good history, interesting, but it was too long. All the events ran together after a while. Worthwhile, however, especially for history buffs.

A solid overview of early New England history

What made the experience of listening to Mayflower the most enjoyable?

I appreciated that the author avoided either being too cynical or too naive about a story which, as he noted, has formed the center of our national myth since the Civil War. He tried hard to be objective and view the Pilgrims as human, neither the shining paragons of virtue the Victorians depicted them as, nor as evil genocidal maniacs (which you could certainly feel they were at some points in the story). Instead, he just treats them as ordinary humans in a hard situation, products of their time who did some great things, some terrible things, and made the most of a bad situation while sometimes making the situation worse with their own inexperience. King Philip's War was a fascinating story and I was glad it was included. My main problem with the book is that it occasionally got too disjointed. A lot of the Philip's War discussion was just a recitation of the timeline of events of the war, so I sort of phased out during a lot of that. Sometimes the details included were a bit random (like Massasoit's gastrointestinal issues during his bout with Typhoid...), and then details which I wanted to know were left out, or questions I began to wonder about. So while it's a good overview, you don't walk away feeling like you've gotten a comprehensive story in the way that I have felt in some other Audible history books.

Any additional comments?

My main problem with the book is that it occasionally got too disjointed. A lot of the Philip's War discussion was just a recitation of the timeline of events of the war, so I sort of phased out during a lot of that. Sometimes the details included were a bit random (like Massasoit's gastrointestinal issues during his bout with Typhoid...), and then details which I wanted to know were left out, or questions I began to wonder about. So while it's a good overview, you don't walk away feeling like you've gotten a comprehensive story in the way that I have felt in some other Audible history books.

Excellent account of the Mayflower

Starting in Scrooby in the early 1600s and ending with King Philip's war, this a must read for all US history buffs.

Every US citizen needs to read this

As a native New Englander, this piece answers so many holes that are untold in this area. It is an absolute must read and Philbrick illustrates it beautifully.