Sunday, May 14, 2006
'We actually know nothing about it'
The generally positive reviews of Nantucket author Nathaniel Philbrick's 'Mayflower' are starting to stream in here and here and here and here. ... A couple points about the reviews: 1.) 'Mayflower' is surely not as good a read as Philbrick's 'Into the Heart of the Sea,' winner of the National Book Award. The latter was just a great tale and hard to beat, while the former is dense history and quite different. 2.) The reviews, almost to a cliche-like extent, tend to focus on the negative side of the Pilgrims. But I found Philbrick's book to be more sympathetic toward the Pilgrims than I would have thought. As I wrote in January after reading an advance copy, I finished the book admiring the Pilgrims. Maybe I had low expectations for them going into the book. ... Bottom line: History buffs will love this book, especially local history buffs. ... Here's a good story on Philbrick and how he approached 'Mayflower.' ...
P.S. -- Philbrick has definitely earned a honored place in Hub Blog's pantheon of great contemporary local writers, who include, among others, Cape Cod's Bernard Cornwell, author of the Sharpe series. ...
P.S.P.S. -- The Economist review above notes that an estimated 35 million Americans are 'reckoned to be descended from passengers on the Mayflower.' Is that true? That's more than 10 percent of the nation's current population -- spawned from 102 people. Now think of the tens of millions of immigrants since and do the math. Someone set me straight. ... Now if we're talking 'claimed' to be descended, that I'd understand. ...
The generally positive reviews of Nantucket author Nathaniel Philbrick's 'Mayflower' are starting to stream in here and here and here and here. ... A couple points about the reviews: 1.) 'Mayflower' is surely not as good a read as Philbrick's 'Into the Heart of the Sea,' winner of the National Book Award. The latter was just a great tale and hard to beat, while the former is dense history and quite different. 2.) The reviews, almost to a cliche-like extent, tend to focus on the negative side of the Pilgrims. But I found Philbrick's book to be more sympathetic toward the Pilgrims than I would have thought. As I wrote in January after reading an advance copy, I finished the book admiring the Pilgrims. Maybe I had low expectations for them going into the book. ... Bottom line: History buffs will love this book, especially local history buffs. ... Here's a good story on Philbrick and how he approached 'Mayflower.' ...
P.S. -- Philbrick has definitely earned a honored place in Hub Blog's pantheon of great contemporary local writers, who include, among others, Cape Cod's Bernard Cornwell, author of the Sharpe series. ...
P.S.P.S. -- The Economist review above notes that an estimated 35 million Americans are 'reckoned to be descended from passengers on the Mayflower.' Is that true? That's more than 10 percent of the nation's current population -- spawned from 102 people. Now think of the tens of millions of immigrants since and do the math. Someone set me straight. ... Now if we're talking 'claimed' to be descended, that I'd understand. ...
