Mayflower

Penguin Audio could not have chosen a better narrator for MAYFLOWER than the consummate actor Edward Herrmann, one of Audiofile's Golden Voices. It seems like Herrmann was born to play an aristocratic, dapper New Englander as far back as 1973's Paper Chase and as recently as last week's "Gilmore Girls." His forceful, eloquent voice conjures up rough seas and misty New England mornings, and the twinge of sadness in his tone seems more than appropriate. The book is worthy of the performer, a scalding tale of the voyage of the MAYFLOWER and the first half-century of life in the Plymouth colony. It's a very sad book, an unvarnished account of ambition, greed, and violence with not enough bravery, honesty, or loyalty. This is the history they don't teach in school. It's a troubling lesson you will not forget. M.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine


Author Nathaniel Philbrick strips away the prettiness of what we learned in grade school about the Pilgrims and their religious beliefs. We hear accounts of their pulling out the bowels of live Indians, stealing their food, and taking their possessions. Life in the New England colonies offered more death and disease than freedom at first, and the truthful aspects of the settlers' struggles must be rated "R." George Guidall narrates the gruesome details as he tells a cozy story, varying his expression and emphasis to maintain the listener's interest in every sentence. Somehow he knows how to pronounce the hundreds of native names and places as if he used the words every day. J.A.H. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine