Pilgrims often conjure images of Thanksgiving celebrations with tables piled high with food and football on the television, but the story behind them and the founding of Plymouth is much more complicated and darker. Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick is the winner of the National Book Award and is a fascinating account of this period and the people. The book is actually divided into two time periods. The first part covers the initial founding and then the second part is about King Philip’s War. With over 40 pages of notes and a bibliography of over 25 pages, this is a well documented historical account. The details make this book come alive and bring relevance to the times. These were dangerous times. The stories of their struggles to survive makes this a hard book to put down.