A Review of Mayflower

In class and at home, we read The Book Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick. The book is nonfiction and covers the story of the Mayflower ship, the early years of the Plymouth  colony, and it’s inhabitants. We read chapters five and six in the book, pages 79 to 101 which covered the history of Plymouth shortly after the Mayflower left. We came about reading it in class for a project where we were to have assigned roles such as historian, etc, and annotate and look over the reading so we could get a better understanding of life in Plymouth and to take notes on parts and phrases of the book pertaining to our assigned role.

                              

Overall, I think Mayflower was a pretty good read. The main subject matter of this section, the early days of Plymouth colony, was presented in a interesting way that managed to hold my attention quite well. I think the authors writing style was what made the reading stand out especially. It read similarly to a novel, which I think helps the reader engage and better comprehend the time period and setting more than just reading about it in a textbook would. But I also feel there is a small problem with his style of writing too. Due to it’s novel-like format, the reading doesn’t really display the information and facts as clearly or easily as, say, a textbook would. Despite that, I would overall recommend this book to people. Especially to those who are looking for a more accessible and engaging way to read about the history of Mayflower, Plymouth, and the pilgrims. But to those who are looking for something to read for hard research, there are probably somewhat better places to look, but this book is not without it’s merits. I would overall rate this book a 4 out of five stars.