This is a fascinating recount of the Mayflower ocean trip and the year after the Pilgrims' landing. I found lots of fresh insights into the characters of the leaders and the travelers. The author said that the Pilgrims were not as drab and colorless as history books expound. The pages flew by because the history was told in such an interesting manner.
I particularly enjoyed the Pilgrims' interactions with the Indian tribes. Fleming's research agrees with Charles C Mann's book, 1491: NEW REVELATIONS OF THE AMERICAS BEFORE COLUMBUS. Earliest European explorers had devastated Indian tribes with their illnesses and so the Pilgrims met only a fraction of the Indians who had lived there for hundreds of years.
I particularly enjoyed the Pilgrims' interactions with the Indian tribes. Fleming's research agrees with Charles C Mann's book, 1491: NEW REVELATIONS OF THE AMERICAS BEFORE COLUMBUS. Earliest European explorers had devastated Indian tribes with their illnesses and so the Pilgrims met only a fraction of the Indians who had lived there for hundreds of years.
