Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Like I needed another book to read . . .

Making Haste from Babylon: The Mayflower Pilgrims and Their World: A New History

I picked up Making Haste from Babylon: the Mayflower Pilgrims and their World from the new books shelf at the library and brought it home, knowing I was already reading too many books at once. Too bad.

I read the first chapter and was hooked. First of all, it starts in Maine, of all places. It starts, in fact, with a bald eagle soaring over the Maine landscape. I like that. This is one of those books in which the author simply revels in the data, pulling together a thousand disparate facts to form, it is hoped, not only a collection of facts but a grand tale. Without a firm sense of story, the author would simply be creating an erudite encyclopedia, but he has definite story-telling chops. Likin' it!

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