With God in the Wilderness: William Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation Retold for Young People

by William Bradford, R.A. Sheats

“We could see nothing but a desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men. . . . What, then, could now sustain us but the Spirit of God and His grace?” William Bradford, 1620. After almost four hundred years, the exciting, inspiring, and remarkable history of Plymouth Plantation and the Pilgrims who established it is now available in an understandable, easy-to-read format. Presenting Bradford's fascinating tale in modern English, With God in the Wilderness preserves this American classic for generations of young readers. Since its original publication in the 1600’s, William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation has remained a classic text of American history, surviving almost four centuries of a nation’s growth and change. Persecution, arrest, secret escapes, perilous journeys across the ocean to a new and uncharted land, Indian attacks, jealousies, murders, conspiracy and intrigue fill the pages of Bradford’s account of a small congregation of believers who desired nothing but a place to worship God according to the truths of Scripture. Through hardship and suffering, famine and want, freezing winters and scorching heat, Bradford captures the dangerous yet thrilling times in which he lived, and records for all posterity the faithful fulfillment of God’s wondrous “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). Join the Pilgrims as they board the Mayflower and travel to Plymouth Plantation to erect their own city on a hill. Meet Squanto and his friends and join in the first Thanksgiving ever celebrated in Massachusetts, all while learning about the providence of God and the true history of the foundation of America. "With God in the Wilderness" is great for children or young people of all ages, and offers the modern reader an understandable and comprehensible edition of Bradford’s classic history. The text of this book has been taken from Harold Paget’s 1920 edition. The work has been abridged and the English has been updated. Besides updating the English, one further change has been made to the manuscript. In Bradford’s original work he referred to himself in the third person. This has been changed to the first person in order to make the story easier-to-understand for young people.

130 pages, Paperback

Published November 2, 2018

About the author

William Bradford was an English leader of the settlers of the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, and was elected thirty times to be the Governor after John Carver died. The manuscript of his journal (1620–1647), Of Plymouth Plantation, was not published until 1856. Bradford is credited as the first to proclaim what popular American culture now views as the first Thanksgiving.