From the perilous ocean crossing to the shared bounty of the first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrim settlement of New England has become enshrined as our most sacred national myth. Yet, as author Philbrick reveals, the true story of the Pilgrims is much more than the well-known tale of piety and sacrifice; it is a 55-year epic. The Mayflower's religious refugees arrived in Plymouth Harbor during a period of crisis for Native Americans, as disease spread...

After a perilous journey across the Atlantic, the Mayflower's passengers were saved from certain destruction with the help of the Natives of the Plymouth region. For fifty years a fragile peace was maintained as Pilgrims and Natives learned to work together. But that trust was broken with the next generation of leaders, and a conflict erupted that nearly wiped out English and natives alike.

Sir,-The enclosed ancient manuscript I found some years ago in a grocer's shop in this town, of whom I obtained it with a view of saving what remained from destruction. I lament extremely that a page has been torn out; and it gives me pleasure that I now have an opportunity of placing it in your hands,-a freedom I am induced to take from your advertisement of the first of November, 1792, and from a persuasion that it may contribute in some measure...

High into the stormy sky, a kite with iron points bobs in the wind. Suddenly, lightning cuts through the sky and a spark emits from the key attached to the kite string. As Ben Franklin watched the lightning in Philadelphia's night sky, he came up with a brilliant discovery--one that would change the world forever.

A biography of the first Governor of Plymouth Colony and a history of the colony's early years.

A biography of William Bradford, from his childhood and religious persecution in England to his years as the first governor of the Plymouth Colony.

A modern translation of the journal kept by Governor William Bradford and others of the Mayflower company describing the landing of the Pilgrims on Cape Cod, their search for a homesite, the first meetings with Indians, and the final building of the settlement at Plymouth.