Philbrick’s “Mayflower” on New York Times’ Top 10
This week, The New York Times Book Review released its list of the Top 10 (fiction and non-fiction) books of 2006. The list included “Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War,” by Nantucket resident and respected historical author Nat Philbrick.

A well-researched, thoughtful and revisionist account of the violence and chaos that eventually plagued relationships between the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag Indians, Mayflower has spent 18 weeks to-date on The Times’ bestseller list.

“Being named to their Top 10 was a nice surprise, and to be mentioned in the company of the other authors in that review is flattering,” said

Philbrick, who also won the National Book Award for 2000’s “In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex.”

The Times’ honor is one of many given to “Mayflower” this year; Newsweek, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor and Publisher’s Weekly are only some of the publications that have included it on their year-end lists.

“In the beginning, I thought this book might be just of regional interest,” said Philbrick, who has been on a marathon, cross-country tour since the book’s May release. “But it was amazing to me to see how all Americans have embraced the book. It seems to have struck a chord, but I’m not sure

what the chord is. It’s a story we all sort of know about, but don’t know about. People were intrigued by that.”

“Nathaniel Philbrick's ‘Mayflower’ has done so well because you have a trusted, popular historian with a great track record who has done impeccable research on an intriguing topic,” explained Carolyn Coleburn, VP, Director of Publicity, Viking, which published the book.

Though he said he wasn’t thinking of the Iraq War when he wrote the book, Philbrick believes the war has influenced people’s interest in “Mayflower.”

“The feedback I got at book signings was that Iraq is on a lot of people’s minds,” Philbrick said. “I think

people are thinking about current world events in the context history. They can see similarities between now and the 17th century. And if we don’t see history in terms that apply to us now, how is it of any interest?”

For now, Philbrick’s plans are to return to Massachusetts for the holidays before releasing a book with his father, Thomas Philbrick (who worked with his son on this year’s “Peleg Folger Logs” as well). Currently entitled “The Mayflower Papers,” the book is comprised of the primary source material Philbrick used for “Mayflower.” It is due out on Penguin in the spring of 2007, to coincide with the paperback release of “Mayflower.”

— Marli Guzzetta