RGG: Really interesting, complex history. The names and places are numerous, and at times make the narrative hard to keep track of. Reading Interest: 14-YA.

I enjoyed the part about the early settlement, but the later half of the book got very depressing. Not the author's fault, obviously; he's an excellent writer. ( )

The Mayflower is about the journey the pilgrims took to the new world. It starts out by telling us how the pilgrims decided to sail to the Americas. The pilgrims started out as people who didn't believe in the church of England. When the church found this out they were exiled. They fled to Holand were they stayed there for a little bit. When the next generation was born they didn't like the fact their children acted more Dutch than English. So they decided to go to America (The New World). There they would be able to worship the way they wanted and have their English traditions. Altogether it is a book about how sometimes you have to put aside your differences to survive

I gave this book 2 stars because it was unbelievably boring. I was barely able to finish it and that is saying something considering I love history. ( )

Full disclosure: I read parts one and two. I skimmed through part three, which was detailed accounts of the war fifty years after the pilgrim's arrival.
I wanted to read this book because I have kind of had a bad attitude about Thanksgiving. We are told the lovely story of the pilgrims and Indians eating together in perfect harmony. But we also know that the settlers basically wiped out the Native Americans. So, I felt weird celebrating an event that I imagined was mostly fabricated to make us feel better about the horrific things the settlers did to claim this land.
So- now I know. I can celebrate thanksgiving knowing that for a brief time in history, the pilgrims did in fact, have a reasonably peaceful relationship with a tribe of Native Americans.
Also, I now kind of have a better understanding that while there were very wicked and racist white men (sound familiar?), there were lots of settlers that were comfortable with the cultural differences and had respect for those differences. There were many who became good friends with their native neighbors.

I always imagined from the really crappy education I got, that the British basically just came in guns a blazing- shooting anything that moved, just picking off tribes of Indians without ever trying to communicate.
I was surprised to learn how hard, at least in this small section of the world, they tried to establish peace.
They were often times pawns in games for power over other tribes. Even Squanto tried to use them to overthrow chief Massasoit at one point.
The native Americans were not the nature loving peaceful hippies a lot of movies and books try to make them out to be. They were culturally different, but they were still men.
Massasoit' son was greedy and power hungry. He thought of himself as King and wanted the settlers to treat him as if they were his subjects. He went back on treaties and agreements his father had left to him when he died. Then he rejected the system of government that they had set up. He thought of himself as above the law, and this caused the downfall of the peace between these groups.

Not to say that the pilgrims didn't become greedy and power hungry either. They did atrocious things to maintain their lands. They were religious and Christian, but they did terrible things, claiming it was God's will. Truthfully, I think they went a little crazy. They lost touch with their civilization, and lost a bit of their humanity.

There was one quote that really helped me understand how things escalated to the point that they did. There was a huge culture gap in the way wars were fought.

"As Roger Williams observed, Native American warfare was more about the bravery and honor of the fighters than the body count, and usually only a handful of warriors were killed in in battle....With the Pequot War, New England was introduced to the horrors of European-style genocide."

This book was very well written. I am not usually a non-fiction reader. Absolutely not a history non-fiction reader. But this book was a page turner. I did read the version adapted for young adults. I feel kind of guilty about that. But, my experience was so positive, I will probably graduate to his full novels eventually. I really appreciated this author's style.

I should give it five stars probably, but, I am SO super visual. The names and people jumped around so much I couldn't keep track of it all. I wish it had more charts, visual guides for me to keep track of who was who.
Really, I just needed to read this with a pen in my hand- making my own charts.
Oh well. 4.5 stars. ( )

The Mayflower and the Pilgrims’ New World is a very well written book that I enjoyed immensely. Much of the information contained in this book I did not know and I found it exciting as well as informative. Being a born New Englander with immigrant as well as Native American blood, I am a little ashamed that I did not already know the true story of the Pilgrims and their adventures. This book is not a book that paints a flowery picture of colonial life but a harsh and sometime tragic tale. I am now bitten by the bug to know even more of the rich history of both the New World settlers and the original native peoples. Thank you Nathaniel for opening my eyes to the history in my own back yard… ( )