Genealogy Books - Plymouth Plantation 1620

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Summary: Excellent All-Time Classic
Comment: William Bradford spends the entire first chapter of his book describing the Separatist religious
movement--he was NOT a Puritan, contrary to the previous review. Bradford's writing style, while
sometimes introspective and monotone, is in many instances the most eloquent of all early American
authors, using very thoughtful and beautiful metaphors. To describe the success of the Plymouth
Colony after about 20 years, he wrote "Thus out of small beginnings greather things have been
produced by His hand that made all things of nothing, and gives being to all things that are; and,
as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many, yea in
some sort to our whole nation". Bradford describes those small beginnings in his book, from the
Pilgrims troubles in England to their departure and life in Holland. After twelve years in Holland,
the Pilgrims made a teary departure from their friends to come on the Mayflower to America. As they
are about to board the ship that will take them to England and on to America, Bradford in a
sentimental outpouring writes "they went aboard and their friends with them, where truely doleful
was the sight of that sad and mournful parting, to see what sighs and sobs and prayers did sound . .
. But the tide, which stays for no man, calling them away that were thus loath to depart, their
reverend pastor falling down on his knees with watery cheeks commended them . . . And then with
mutual embrases and many tears they took their leave one of another, which proved to be the last
leave to many of them." It was a "last leave to many", because after Bradford writes the only
existing first-hand account of the Mayflower's voyage, and describes briefly some of the
explorations made by the Pilgrims, he then describes the horrible first winter which killed half the
Pilgrims: "it pleased God to visit us daily with death, and with so general a disease that the
living were scarce able to bury the dead, and the well not in any measure suffiient to tend to the
sick". Written in an English that is easier to read than Shakespeare, yet old enough to remind
the reader of the books historical value and place in American history. It's plain style should
remind us that Bradford was not an English elitist governor like those that would come later such as
Winthrop, Sewell, Winslow, and Cotton, but was in fact a simple subsistence farmer by trade. If you
want a fluffy, inaccurate, and childish portrayal of Pilgrim life, read a high school history book.
If you want the real thing, read "Of Plymouth Plantation" by William Bradford. It's the first
American classic

Customer Rating:

Summary: This was an incredibly boring book.
Comment: William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation is perhaps the most boring and vexatious book I have ever
read. The plain style employed by Bradford is, undoubtably, because of his Puritan backgroud, but
that is still no excuse for the tedious and often archaic redition of events. I should think that a
high-school text book would give a more lively presentation of life in the "New Jerusalem", as
Bradford calls it. The antidiluvian vocabulary and monotonous recording of events made this a very
difficult book to get through. I would not recommend it to my peers

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