They Knew They Were Pilgrims: Plymouth Colony and the Contest for American Liberty

Published for the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower's landing, this ambitious new history of the Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony "will become the new standard work on the Plymouth Colony.” (Thomas Kidd)    "Informative, accessible, and compelling. . . . A welcome invitation to rediscover the Mayflower voyage and the founding of Plymouth Colony."—Daniel M. Gullotta, Christianity Today "[An] excellent new history. . . .  [Turner] asserts that the Pilgrims matter for more than their legend, and he deftly uses the history of Plymouth to explore ideas of liberty in the American colonies."—Nathanael Blake, National Review In 1620, separatists from the Church of England set sail across the Atlantic aboard the Mayflower. Understanding themselves as spiritual pilgrims, they left to preserve their liberty to worship God in accordance with their understanding of the Bible.   There exists, however, an alternative, more dispiriting version of their story. In it, the Pilgrims are religious zealots who persecuted dissenters and decimated Native peoples through warfare and by stealing their land. The Pilgrims’ definition of liberty was, in practice, very narrow.   Drawing on original research using underutilized sources, John G. Turner moves beyond these familiar narratives in his sweeping and authoritative new history of Plymouth Colony. Instead of depicting the Pilgrims as otherworldly saints or extraordinary sinners, he tells how a variety of English settlers and Native peoples engaged in a contest for the meaning of American liberty.  

About the Author :
John G. Turner is professor of religious studies at George Mason University and the award-winning author of Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet.

Review :
“John G. Turner’s superbly detailed new history of the colony looks at what Turner calls the ‘contest for American liberty.’”—Rebecca Fraser, Times Literary Supplement “[An] excellent new history of the colony. . . . While validating some criticisms, [Turner] asserts that the Pilgrims matter for more than their legend, and he deftly uses the history of Plymouth to explore ideas of liberty in the American colonies.”—Nathanael Blake, National Review “What Turner achieves, in what will surely become the definitive history of the Plymouth Colony, is a double perspective. . . . He is excellent at exploring the paradoxes of Calvinist determinism . . . and deftly untangles knotty concepts such as Arminianism and the Halfway Covenant. He allows us to admire the Pilgrims’ persistence, endeavour and energy . . . while giving a clear-eyed assessment of their intolerance and occasional inhumanity.”—Richard Francis, Spectator “They Knew They Were Pilgrims tells this story anew through an even-keeled and extensive history.”—James Panero, New Criterion “Compellingly written and centering the testimonies of formerly enslaved people, this award-winning book is an important contribution to both historiography and contemporary politics.”—Ben Marguiles, LSE Review of Books “Turner has given us the history we need to understand what really mattered about Plymouth.”—Evan Haefeli, Journal of Religious History “In the twentieth century few academic historians have revisited the political, social and religious history of the colony, a void that John Turner has filled with a skilfully written, archive-based history that extends from start (1620) to finish (1691), when the government of William III incorporated it into Massachusetts.”—David D. Hall, Journal of Ecclesiastical History Received the Christianity Today Award of Merit for the history/biography category, sponsored by Christianity Today Finalist for The Gospel Coalition 2020 History Book Prize, sponsored by The Gospel Coalition Shortlisted for the New England Society Book Award, sponsored by the New England Society in the City of New York “This highly important book will become the new standard work on the Plymouth Colony.”—Thomas Kidd, author of Who Is an Evangelical? “They Knew They were Pilgrims is a deeply-researched must-read for anyone interested in the Pilgrims and in the history of 17th-century Plymouth Colony.”—Michael P. Winship, author of Hot Protestants “Turner takes readers deep into the complex world the Pilgrims inhabited, giving an old familiar story remarkable new life and power. The story he tells is at once entertaining, erudite, and wonderfully human.”—Margaret Bendroth, author of The Last Puritans “Precisely crafted and far-ranging, They Knew They Were Pilgrims resets Plymouth’s significance in a rapidly evolving colonial world and deftly probes the Pilgrims’ complex relationship to liberty.”—Donna D. Curtin, Pilgrim Hall Museum “On this 400thanniversary of Plymouth Colony, John G. Turner offers a masterful narrative that reassesses the ‘Thanksgiving Story,’ detailing a poignant yet complicated legacy that resonates in our time of social and political turmoil.”—Walter L. Powell, General Society of Mayflower Descendants