Standish of Standish a Story of the Pilgrims

by Jane G. Austin

This book is part of the TREDITION CLASSICS series. The creators of this series are united by passion for literature and driven by the intention of making all public domain books available in printed format again - worldwide. At tredition we believe that a great book never goes out of style. Several mostly non-profit literature projects provide content to tredition. To support their good work, tredition donates a portion of the proceeds from each sold copy. As a reader of a TREDITION CLASSICS book, you support our mission to save many of the amazing works of world literature from oblivion.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Adventure, Fiction

356 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1889

About the author

Jane Goodwin Austin, born Mary Jane Goodwin, was an American writer, notable for being the author of 24 books and numerous short stories.

Jane G. Austin was a Pilgrims specialist. The Austin part of her name comes from her marriage, in 1850, to Loring Henry Austin.

Reviews

[Kari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclosure: I wrote my dissertation on Jane Goodwin Austin, so I am a little biased. She does not deserve to be forgotten, and she definitely deserves more credit for her role in shaping our understanding of the Pilgrim story. Standish of Standish was a best-seller in its day and stayed in print well into the twentieth century, even being taught in schools as history. The plot follows the events of the Plymouth Colony's first few years, and for the most part, Austin is faithful to the factual record. There are some embellishments, some of which seem ridiculous today, but some of which were believed to be true when she wrote it. And she definitely adds in imaginative elements to round out the story line. The best example is how she more or less "invents" the story of the First Thanksgiving as we commonly think of it today: she imagines the Pilgrims inviting the Wampanoag to dinner, they feast outside, the Wampanoag introduce popcorn, and so on. By building on the bare bones of the primary source accounts, she told a story that captivated the nation. If you're interested, I have more information on my blog, Inventing the Pilgrims.

[Annika Cleeve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it, love it, love it.

[Donna Peake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very in depth book on the Pilgrims and their struggles to survive in America. Learned of even more of those who came over in the Mayflower.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

p. 14 "William Molines, called Mullins by the Pilgrims, his wife, son, daughter and servant were all of the French Huguenots, who fleeing from their native land planted a colony upon the river Waal in Holland, and were at this time known as the Walloons. Learning enough of Dutch to carry on the business of daily life and of English to communicate with their co-religionists of the Pilgrim church in Leyden, they retained French as the dear home language of their birth." I looked it up on FamilySearch.com and the claim is that William was from England, which leads me to believe that Jane's story about the Mullins family is fiction.
p. 237, In response to the sunset, "Saw you ever a fairer sight? Tis fair as the Hills of Beulah."
p. 422, "Shall we not cherish them (the Pilgrims) and study them more, feeling in our hearts that those virtues, that courage, and that nobility of life may be ours as well as theirs, may illustrate the easy life of today, and make it less unworthy to be the fruit of the Tree of Liberty, planted in the blood and watered by the tears of our Fathers."

[Greg Collver · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not care for this book.