Thesis: In his well-researched and interesting to read book Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War, Nathaniel Philbrick covers a span of 55 years of the Puritans' journey from Europe to North America and the sometimes symbiotic and often unstable relationship they developed with Native Americans. It is the story of people whose actions and beliefs shaped the country that the United States has become. Development: Everyone is biased to some extent in what they believe happened among the Pilgrims and Native Americans due to the perpetuation of myths in the world. media and in the celebration of Thanksgiving itself. Using the journal entries of two early settlers William Bradford and Benjamin Church, Philbrick brings to life a story very different from the one he grew up with. In the preface Philbrick tells us of his interest in the history of the era and search for answers as he struggled with "conflicting preconceptions" of the period and the facts that his research into primary sources (the Bradford and Church manuscripts) was revealing. The 480-page book is divided into four parts and uses a simple-to-follow sequential and logical approach in recounting events in an attempt to separate myth from fact. Part 1: The Discovery: Begins on the 65th day of the Mayflower's voyage with 102 human passengers and 2 dogs on their way to the New World. Having withdrawn from the Church of England, these people had remained in Leiden, Holland, for a period of 11 years, but the fear of their children losing their identity forces them to start over in a new land without any outside influence. the book covers the first year of the Pilgrims in the New World from their landing at Plymouth in 1...... middle of paper...... it is easy to read and is more layman friendly than most part of the history books, it can be a resource for the amateur historian and the layman who wishes to know more about the period. Philbrick took the time to research both Bradford and Edward's diaries and the accounts of the letter sent back to Fortune in England giving us an account of the first Thanksgiving. He uses both maps and images to help the reader appreciate the distances covered and the territories involved put the bigger picture into perspective. At the end of the book we realize that real history can have more twists and turns than a detective story. Myth distorts history and it is the historian's job to separate fact from fiction, for historians it would be a good book for someone who wants it. to learn more about the time period but not want to study the primary sources themselves.