December 30, 2018, 2018 Book #29: “Of Plymouth Plantation” by William Bradford. This was a labor of love, a book started summer 2017, and a very tough sled, documenting Bradford’s recollections of nearly 30 years of Pilgrim history. Stationed on my nightstand, this helped lull me to sleep for nearly a year and half – making it just a few pages at a time. Bradford’s entries have been updated into modern English, but were never intended to do more than record, in journal style, the pilgrim story. He starts in 1607 and the Pilgrims’ initial departure for Holland, then the subsequent return to England, the organization of the trip to the New World, finding land, settling Plymouth, surviving the first winter, Squanto and the first Thanksgiving, the failure of the pilgrim experiment in communal service – abandoned after surviving the first few years, complaints about England not sending the best settlers, and subsequent trials and tribulations. Noticeable are the firsts in the colony, such as murder of a colonist, murders of natives, gun sales to natives, disputes with English partners, swindles, lost ships and supplies, executions, Indian wars, etc., all with the pilgrims living on the edge of life and wilderness. It makes you appreciate the daunting task and how far we’ve come in 400 years.
rwb historically speaking 