Plymouth State College Books

Excellent book! I read this in combination with the Governer William Bradford's Letter Book and Mourts Relations and Good Newes from New England by Edward Winslow. I am really glad that I have done it this way, because there is further information in the Good Newes from New England that fills in the gaps of certain events.
This is William Bradford's point of view, and the information in it is amazing. If you are into history, then it doesn't get any better than this. Its not very often that you have the opportunity to see events through someone elses eyes, and this does it.

I don't honestly know who reads Of Plymouth Plantation the most. Professors conducting research? Students assigned to read it? As I am neither, and decided to go ahead and try something daring, perhaps my thoughts are of some value. I say daring when referring to this work by the Puritan leader William Bradford primarily because reading documents of that era is somewhat difficult. The work spans the years 1620 to 1647, so the language is closer to Shakespeare than it is to us. Already we can see notable improvement from the bard, but sometimes the going is rough. It certainly helps that in this edition, Samuel Eliot Morison has standardized the spelling, written out in full the abbreviations, and provided useful footnotes. Believe me, it makes a difference. It also helps that this first governor of the Plymouth colony, who came over on the Mayflower, writes in a reasonably clear style. The evidence may be found in the many letters written by other Pilgrims and their friends back in England that are inserted into the text. By comparison, Bradford is the model of clarity and simplicity. I'm dwelling on the language point because I think this is the sort of thing that probably turns off the casual reader with an interest in the earliest era of colonial times. There are many easier ways to learn about the Pilgrims, but there is obviously a certain authenticity to reading a primary source, even if it can be difficult going at times.

The other main issue with reading a source like this is its limitation. Bradford was hardly the only source of information, and what he presents can be choppy at times, dry at others. He spends little time on exciting matters such as the Pequot war, one of the earliest confrontations with Indian tribes, but writes extensively on finance issues with traders and suppliers. As most of the material is a year-by-year account of brief highlights, there's a fair amount missing that would make for a clearer story. The best sections, to my way of thinking, were the earlier ones covering the time up to the Mayflower voyage. There Bradford takes the time to really write about their lives and their thoughts as they leave England for the Netherlands and how they got along there.

Despite the difficulties, there is much insight to be gained here. Puritans are not the easiest group of people for modern readers to understand. Countless times Bradford casually would say something like "But in that year it pleased God that (insert terrible calamity here)" Whether it was illness, some natural disaster, or whatever, it seemed to be accepted as just God's will and nothing to get upset about. Whether this represented their actual reaction at the time or only Bradford's official note of it is unclear. What is clear is that Of Plymouth Plantation is of more use for history than for ethical philosophy. The Puritans remain a very odd people with some very odd and occasionally horrifying standards. Certain acts, for example, done with barnyard animals would result in execution for the perpetrator. The same acts done to an eight-year-old girl warranted only a fine and a whipping. The flip side of Puritan character, of course, is that these were really strong willed people. They stuck it out even with a death rate of more than half their population succumbing in the earliest years. It is clear not only from Bradford but the letters of other participants that they considered the life they chose, however difficult, to be the one that they were going to see through come what may. This, perhaps, is the most memorable feature of their story.

I was suprised at how gossipy William Bradford was. He told tales about his neighbors and friends and described how the pilgrims constantly bickered with traders and their benefactors over money. My whole fantasy about what I thought the Pilgrims were like has completely changed. Now I consider them petty, self-righteous gossip mongers. The book was good for general information about preparation for their trip and what they actually did when they got here, but as far as historical fact goes, I was unimpressed. Bradford discusses people who stray from the flock, "outsiders" who get girls pregnant, drunkards, and preachers who were not to his liking. It was more like a "dish" session n the Jenny Jones show than something I would be proud to uphold as historical fact to the rest of the nation.

I came across this book quite by accident and didn't think it would be much of a read. Generally speaking I don't read histories and one from the early 1600's was a pretty daunting task - or so I thought. In fact, it was a great tale of adventure and faith and an extremely insightful and thought provoking book about how this country was started and what it must have looked like to those who arrived here some 350 years ago.I really did love this book.

Bradford is an engaging writer whose prose isn't hard to understand. In places his understatement about the death and hardship faced almost constantly is even amusing. Nothing of the kind of challenges that the Leyden pilgrims faced in Massachusetts will seem familiar to a modern reader. Just the same, the fact that it all happened is fascinating. One can almost imagine being there, looking over the decks of the Mayflower and facing all that December gray and wilderness and wondering what you were doing coming here. Told in first person it reads like an adventure as much as a history.

The pilgrims here are also quite human and not at all the diorama characters of a first graders Thanksgiving craft project. They face social challenges and the horrors of death and disease. Attacks by natives actually occured on occasion. The dream of a sort of providence is one that proves difficult in the real world. Bradford mourns the loss of these ideals and the people who imported them. There's something a little sad in his later passages, whether it be age or a truly lost paradise one never really knows. But what Bradford imagined as a sort of religious nirvana clearly doesn't pan out in the end. Nevertheless it is well worth the journey. I highly recommend a read of this American classic.

Contrary to a previous review, Bradford can in all accuracy be labelled a Puritan, though he himself would not have appreciated the title, it being a word used as a jibe by their opponents. Nowadays, the word has come to refer to a theological standpoint, independent of political positioning. Hence an Anglican might be a Puritan (see Master Alden who came over on the Mayflower), and a Separatist would be even more likely to be one. Puritans might also be called "the hotter sort" of Protestants, for their strictness in matters scriptural, and Puritan theology is entirely in keeping with Bradford's position and beliefs, both political and religious, as a Separatist.

Previous reviewers seem to have approached the book with differring expectations. If you want to read about John and Priscilla, go to Longfellow, and if you want to read about Constance of the Mayflower, then you won't find her here (except in the records for the 1623 land division, maybe) - and indeed few of the myths of the Pilgrim Story can be found in Bradford's history. This might dissappoint some people who like to paint their history with honest toil and romance, Plymouth Rocks and Thanksgivings, but to a more attentive reader, Bradford has delights enough to keep anybody satisfied. His style is at times cumbersome, and the language of the 1640s(ish) can often obscure the already confusing legal language of some of the letters and contracts in the book. The language and style, though, are part of the book's character. Bradford's reticence in always referring to himself as either "The Governor" or "Governor Bradford" is not only quaint but also instructive, and to dismiss is as tedious is not to give it its due attention.

Overall, Bradford still keeps a sense of adventure and dedication: adventure that the reader may share when confronted with sudden unfamiliar truths of the divisions which separated the Pilgrims, or the decidedly economic flavour to some of the reasons for their departure from Holland. Even to witness on a page before you the first time in any known source that the word "Pilgrims" was used to describe the settlers at Plymouth, is enough to make the reader feel privileged.

Morison's notes now look somewhat dated - his anachrinistic mention of Communism sticking particularly in the throat, but the reader might share some of his admiration which obviously emerges for the governor and his people. The Pilgrims at Plymouth can in many ways be regarded as adventurers and even (rather more dubiously) pioneers. Maybe if more people were exposed to Bradford's work they would see that although they weren't quite what popular culture would have us think of them, they were all the same resolute and brave people in most untoward circumstances.