American history is so much more interesting now than it was when I was growing up! I have just finished reading Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick. First of all, I was surprised to see a book on this summers New York Times Best Seller List about a subject so long ago. I would have thought the story about the Pilgrims had been told enough times no one would bother writing another book. Philbrick has written an enlightening account of the 17th century events that shaped our country. It was a story that is well written and enjoyable to read.
I was immediately hooked in the book. In the first paragraph, excluding the preface, Philbrick writes "There were 102 of them 104 if you counted the two dogs: a spaniel and a giant, slobbery mastiff." I love dogs! And two of my "granddogs" are "giant, slobbery mastiffs". I can understand writing a book of fiction and basing it on historical facts, but this is supposed to be non-fiction. How in the world does this man know that two dogs were on the Mayflower? Throughout the book I continued to ask myself the same question, "How does this man know this stuff, did he just make it up?" What I didn't realize, until I was quite a ways through the book, there are pages and pages of notes in the back of the book. These notes take you chapter by chapter and tell you where Philbrick found the information he writes about in that particular chapter. He lists previous books, manuscripts, journals and personal writings that have survived all of these years. Besides the notes, his bibliography is twenty-three pages long! The man did his research, and I am glad he did.
Nathaniel Philbrick tells the story of the Pilgrims, beginning with them breaking away from the Church of England, emigrating to Holland, and eventually to America on the Mayflower. He talks about the relationship they had with the "Strangers" or nonbelievers that accompanied them on their adventure. He tells stories about disease, death, deception, and depression. I had never thought about it, but you know some of those people had to be suffering from depression. He tells of joys but mostly of hardships and as he describes some of the first meetings with the Native Americans. His description of the first Thanksgiving is not the same as the pictures I have seen all of my life.
Nathaniel Philbrick opens his book by drawing a direct line from the early Pilgrim’s arrival on Plymouth rock to the building of America. He goes on to say, “Instead of the story we already know, it becomes the story we need to know.” Many of us growing up, myself included romanticize about the pilgrims in the light of the first Thanksgiving and we think about the Indians sitting down with the Pilgrims to take part of the Thanksgiving meal. Next, we believe the myth that everyone lived happily ever after.
The unredeemed captive was a very interesting story. John Demos created this story to inform on what happened in the past. I learned the story of the raid on Deerfield in 1704. The importance of not only the dangerous journey these captives endured, but the story for one child, Eunice Williams. She had to give herself along with the other Native Americans captures and to continue life among the wilderness. I watched the relationships among many tribes build and crumble while hearing a story of a family who was ripped apart for many decades. Things happen in life; it’s not about what happens, it’s about how you react to them.
Most reviewers rate this book between three and four out of five, with the majority of reviews being four out of five. The book does a great job of depicting the historical events that are covered, and the author does so while still maintaining the entertaining qualities of a fiction book. I would rate this book a four out of five because it is not only entertaining to read while still accurately depicting historical events, but the author does a great job of keeping the reader’s attention with the characters’ depiction. Overall, I am pleased with the book and have learned much more from it than what is covered in The American Journey.
William Hogeland did a great job at finding hidden stories that the majority didn’t know about. I wish it was a easier read but the information was told correctly. He indeed completed his point of the book because sometimes the past is lost to us future readers and we need to know all the events our founding Americans did to give us the country we have today. Also the book show the reader where exactly the federal government started taking control and how the people tried to fight for what they thought was an unjust law.
Edward, Rebecca and Henretta, James and Self, Robert. America A Concise History. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2012.
Carol Berkin was a talented woman; she was born in Mobile, Alabama. She earned bachelor 's certificate at Barnard College. Also, at Columbia University, she got M.A and PhD; she achieved the Bancroft Dissertation Award. She was chosen with her book: Jonathan Sewall: Odyssey of An American Loyalist by Carol Berkin (1974). Right now, Baruch College is where she becomes Presidential Professor of History; she is a member of history staff at CUNY Graduate Center. In addition, she is the writer, good editor; she has written many textbooks. They are published like A brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution (2002) that was translated into Chinese and Polish, Women of America: A History (1979), Clio in the classroom: Guide for Teaching
The acclaimed story of heroism and bravery is turned upside down when writer Nathaniel Philbrick truly digs into the realities of the Pilgrims. Nathaniel Philbrick, author of Mayflower, denounces the highly commended Pilgrims using indisputable evidence proving they are careless, credulous, and contemptuous towards the Natives. Philbrick incorporates his own bias when providing detail and summary of the life of the Pilgrims.
Flannery O'Conner has again provided her audience a carefully woven tale with fascinating and intricate characters. "The Displaced Person" introduces the reader to some interesting characters who experience major life changes in front of the reader's eyes. The reader ventures into the minds of two of the more complex characters in "The Displaced Person," Mrs. McIntyre and Mrs. Shortley, and discovers an unwillingness to adapt to change. Furthermore, the intricate details of their characters are revealed throughout the story. Through these details, the reader can see that both Mrs. McIntyre and Mrs. Shortley suffer from a lack of spiritual dimension that hinders them as they face some of life's harsher realities. Mrs. McIntyre struggles throughout the story, most notably during the tragic conclusion. Her lack of spiritual dimension is revealed slowly until we ultimately see how her life is devastated because of it. Mrs. Shortley, on the other hand, seems to have it all figured out spiritually -- or at least she believes that she does. It is only in the last few minutes of her life that she realizes all she has convinced herself of is wrong.
American school and culture ingrains U.S. history into children’s mind from an early age. They tell heroic, brave accounts of pilgrims fleeing England for religious freedom and working peacefully with Natives to cultivate a difficult land, culminating in the first thanksgiving. However, these neat, tidy stories are far from the truth. Edmund Morgan and Karen Kupperman attempt to clear these historic myths, by narrating the many hardships and fewer successes of Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent colonial settlement. However, Morgan achieves this goal more effectively than Kupperman because he portrays the founding of Jamestown in a more realistic, impartial view, fighting his American biases, to reveal that the English colonists were at
The Mayflower Compact was signed on November 11, 1620 on board the vessel Mayflower. The Mayflower Compact was signed by forty-one men on board the ship. The main person responsible for this was William Bradford. He said the reason for writing this is he was afraid of mutiny, and another reason was he thought they needed a form of self-government. This document was the first colonial agreement that formed a government by consent of the governed. The compact gave the settlers a plan to frame and enact laws for the general good of the organized settlement.
Throughout the years there has been many ways to reassure and keep others happy. The Mayflower Compact is one of the United States foundational documents of great historical significance, it contains literary elements with other important U.S. foundational documents in later centuries. The Preamble to the Constitution is one of the country’s foundational documents, igniting a signal of freedom both to the nation and the world. Last, The Star Spangled Banner is a historical poem that is used for the United States. The themes that the Preamble to the Constitution has in common with the Mayflower Compact and The Star Spangled Banner is unity, freedom, and peace.
Thomas Morton wrote about the Native Americans and their way of life while the colonist slowly populated the Americas. Native American’s living styles, religious views, and the relations the Indians had with the colonist are a few of the things that came across when you heard about the Indians during the time the colonist inhabited the Americas.
In “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson,” Mary Rowlandson, a Puritan mother from Lancaster, Massachusetts, recounts the invasion of her town by Indians in 1676 during “King Philip’s War,” when the Indians attempted to regain their tribal lands. She describes the period of time where she is held under captivity by the Indians, and the dire circumstances under which she lives. During these terrible weeks, Mary Rowlandson deals with the death of her youngest child, the absence of her Christian family and friends, the terrible conditions that she must survive, and her struggle to maintain her faith in God. She also learns how to cope with the Indians amongst whom she lives, which causes her attitude towards them to undergo several changes. At first, she is utterly appalled by their lifestyle and actions, but as time passes she grows dependent upon them, and by the end of her captivity, she almost admires their ability to survive the harshest times with a very minimal amount of possessions and resources. Despite her growing awe of the Indian lifestyle, her attitude towards them always maintains a view that they are the “enemy.”
Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place by Terry Tempest Williams. Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, by Terry Tempest Williams, is a thought-provoking, sentimental book that explores both the unnatural and the natural events that take place in her life. The deception and lies of the reports presented by the United States government, which led to the fall out of atomic bomb testing in Utah in the 1950s and the rise of the Great Salt Lake and its effect on bird’s, serve as the backdrop of this book.
I don't remember what much of what I learned about the first Thanksgiving. I do remember being taught that the interaction between the "Indians" and "Pilgrims" was peaceful; the Native Americans gave to the Englishmen and vice versa. Also in grade school, I remember coloring/ drawling pictures of the Native Americans wearing very colorful feathers and lightly clothed; which the "Pilgrims" were fully clothed in all black and buckled boots. I still see pictures of the first Thanksgiving and I think it is interested to see society's depiction of the two groups of people.