Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick

This book is probably misnamed. While it is named after the ship that carried the Separatist Pilgrims to America in 1620, the book is really a history of the Plymouth colony, from the initial voyage to King Philip's War. Perhaps the publishers thought that naming the book Plymouth wouldn't sell as well, invoking memories of the car.

You may or may not remember the story of the Pilgrims from school. But it's interesting to read of their story in a history aimed at adults. One factor they don't teach 9-year olds is the political situation on the ground in New England when they landed. The immediate vicinity of Plymouth was recently depopulated by a plague, and so there were no nearby neighbours to speak of. The next somewhat powerful group, over in the New Hope, RI area (who became the Wampanoags) wanted English help against the more powerful Naragansetts (on the other side of the bay) and so dealt with the Pilgrims. The early days of the colony were something of a political tightrope, and things might have gone differently had the political situation been different.

The last major section of the book is about King Philip's War. Do you know anything about it? I had heard of it, but knew little. Basically, the peace that had endured between the English and the natives erupted in 1675 into all-out war. The results were devastating, and you can guess who had it worse. If I have my numbers right, according to the author,

• In the 45 months the US was active in World War II, it lost about 1% of its adult male population.
• In the US Civil War, this figure was between 4 and 5%.
• In King Philip's War, Plymouth lost about 8%, which in percentage terms is more devastating than any other US war.

But the Indians had it worse, of course. According to Philbrick, during King Philip's War, the natives,

• Had 10% of their population killed in battle,
• Lost 15% through sickness or starvation,
• Had 5% of their population enslaved,
• And 10% of their population fled.

He also claims that the natives lost from 60-80% of their regional population, so these numbers don't add up.

Reading it, I wonder, (and give my opinions)

• Could the Pilgrims have failed? Yes, definitely.
• Would this have prevented English settlement of New England? Probably not, if the English wanted to settle there.
  
• Could King Philip's War have been avoided? Yes
  
• Could the Indians have won? Possible, with Mohawk and French help.
  
• Is it likely that New England history would have developed without major war or deportations of the native population? Probably not

Overall, I recommend the book to anyone interested in North American history, but don't really recommend it to people not interested in the subject. 3.5 stars out of 5.

One complaint I have is that it doesn't really have a map of Plymouth Colony with its borders in relation to the other colonies (Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Haven), so here is one: