They Came for Freedom: The Forgotten, Epic Adventure of the Pilgrims
Written by Jay Milbrandt
Narrated by Wayne Campbell
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
A page-turning story of the Pilgrims, the courageous band of freedom-seekers who set out for a new life for themselves and forever changed the course of history.
Once a year at Thanksgiving, we encounter Pilgrims as folksy people in funny hats before promptly forgetting them. In the centuries since America began, the Pilgrims have been relegated to folklore and children’s stories, fairy-tale mascots for holiday parties and greeting cards.
The true story of the Pilgrim Fathers could not be more different. Beginning with the execution of two pastors deviating from the Elizabethan Church of England, the Pilgrims’ great journey was one of courageous faith, daring escape, and tenuous survival. Theirs is the story of refugees who fled intense religious persecution; of dreamers who voyaged the Atlantic and into the unknown when all other attempts had led to near-certain death; of survivors who struggled with newfound freedom. Loneliness led to starvation, tension gave way to war with natives, and suspicion broke the back of the very freedom they endeavored to achieve.
Despite the pain and turmoil of this high stakes triumph, the Pilgrim Fathers built the cornerstone for a nation dedicated to faith, freedom, and thankfulness. This is the epic story of the Pilgrims, an adventure that laid the bedrock for the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, and the American identity.
Jay Milbrandt
Jay Milbrandt is the author of The Daring Heart of David Livingstone and a professor at Bethel University in Minnesota. He formerly directed the Global Justice Program and served as Senior Fellow in Global Justice with the Nootbaar Institute at Pepperdine University School of Law. He has traveled throughout the world as a lawyer, managing global initiatives in Africa and Southeast Asia, and consulting with organizations engaged in human rights and legal development efforts.
Related to They Came for Freedom
Related audiobooks
Mayflower Lives: Pilgrims in a New World and the Early American Experience Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The First Thanksgiving: What the Real Story Tells Us About Loving God and Learning from History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5America: The Last Best Hope (Volume I): From the Age of Discovery to a World at War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Adventurous Life of Myles Standish: and the Amazing-But-True Survival Story of Plymouth Colony Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sweet Land of Liberty: Old Times in the Colonies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The New Book of Christian Martyrs: The Heroes of Our Faith from the 1st Century to the 21st Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThey Knew They Were Pilgrims: Plymouth Colony and the Contest for American Liberty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Oregon Trail Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Independence: The Struggle to Set America Free Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bradford's History of the Plymouth Settlement, 1608-1650: Unabridged Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Out of the Depths: An Unforgettable WWII Story of Survival, Courage, and the Sinking of the USS Indianapolis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5David Crockett: The Lion of the West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Stranger Among Saints: Stephen Hopkins, the Man Who Survived Jamestown and Saved Plymouth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Time to Stand: The Epic of the Alamo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5America’s Most Influential Mountain Men: The History and Legacy of the 19th Century Explorers Who Helped Chart Paths to the West Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsForgotten Patriots: The Untold Story of American Prisoners During the Revolutionary War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Description of New England Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Journals of Lewis and Clark: Excerpts from The History of the Lewis and Clark Expedition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Icon George Washington: The Hidden History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLions of the West: Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Here Shall I Die Ashore: Stephen Hopkins: Bermuda Castaway, Jamestown Survivor, and Mayflower Pilgrim Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Davy Crockett: My Own Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rifleman Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Frontiersmen: A Narrative Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No Surrender: A Father, a Son, and an Extraordinary Act of Heroism That Continues to Live on Today Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Man Who Could Be King: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Realistic Visionary: A Portrait of George Washington Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Legend: The Real-Life Adventures of David Crockett Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Three Roads to the Alamo: The Lives and Fortunes of David Crockett, James Bowie, and William Barret Travis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lone Star: A History Of Texas And The Texans Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
United States History For You
Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Wright Brothers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untold History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/51776 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5John Adams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: 2nd Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sullivanians: Sex, Psychotherapy, and the Wild Life of an American Commune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Land of Delusion: Out on the edge with the crackpots and conspiracy-mongers remaking our shared reality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Have to Be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live: Ten Weeks in Birmingham That Changed America Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for They Came for Freedom
16 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nonfiction usually takes me a bit longer to read, but this was worth it. This book was well researched and I learned a lot about the people on the mayflower that I never knew. Our school education is woefully bad when it comes to what really happened. A good read. 4 out of 5 stars.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The foundation for a movement was formed when separatists denounced the structure and tradition of the Church of England. This story provides a view of the persecution that was endured and the reasons behind the journey. We know that during the voyage, to the New World, ships suffered from navigational struggle and naval loss. And even though the Pilgrims were dedicated to the idea of freedom, they struggled with it, and New Plymouth declined. Thus our national day of Thanks was built on the purpose of healing wounds and making our nation tranquil.Honestly, I have been re-reading this read for awhile as it is heavy in dialogue and details. It's a historical read, made better by the list of Mayflower passengers, Authors note and Prologue.Review for Net Galley
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One of the enduring founding myths of the United States is the Pilgrims and Thanksgiving, and like all myths it was based on true events that were warped as time passed. They Came for Freedom by Jay Milbrandt explores how and why the Pilgrims came to the shores of Cape Cod as well on how they survived when other settlements failed.The arrest and trial of one Henry Barrow, who defied the Anglican Church’s version of Christianity and maybe the authority of Queen Elizabeth by his dissent, the story of the Separatists who would eventually become the Pilgrims begins. Milbrandt followed the Pilgrims narrative through London, a small village in Nottinghamshire, to the Netherlands, and then across the Atlantic to Cape Cod. But alternating with that of the Pilgrims was the biography of Squanto, whose own life and adventures before the landing of the Mayflower led to him being a pivotal individual for the success of New Plymouth. Once the Pilgrims had landed, Milbrandt merged the two narratives together in a very readable detailed history that went up until the fall of 1623. Although Milbrandt continued his history until 1646, the last 20 years was just a glimpse of tidbits of historical importance.At around 225 pages of text, Milbrandt’s efforts are particularly good considering that his primary sources were few and even those were slanted to give the colony of Plymouth a good impression. Although several historical inaccuracies did appear, they were mostly naming conventions and not detrimental to the overall book.While short, They Came for Freedom is a good general history that gives the reader a sense of the real events that later became mythologized in American culture and folklore. Overall it’s a nice, readable book about a topic most American know little able.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Pilgrims did not create a Thanksgiving holiday, not intend that future fall institution. A singular event after two years of hard circumstances upon arrival in New Plymouth was a one-off expression of gratitude. Turkey or cranberries weren't on the menu of the Pilgrim Fathers. Somehow the tradition in the spirit of the Pilgrims became a common tradition in New England and institutionalized in the 19th century throughout the United States.Jay Milbrandt delves into the history of the first group of Separatists and Puritans heading for the new world in 1620. Thanks to the writings of William Bradford who served several times as governor of New Plymouth over the course of thirty-six years, particularly Of Plymouth Plantation, served Milbrandt the most useful documents chronicling the Pilgrim's Journey in England, the flight to Leiden, the Netherlands, their departure from Delfshaven (near Rotterdam), their rough cross-Atlantic voyage, and initial years north of Cape Cod on the coast of modern-day Massachusetts.They Came for Freedom: The Forgotten, Epic Adventure of the Pilgrims is no true epos, no real heroes out there. Fallible, true to life men and women with a temper, bad habits and pretty strong convictions are the main characters. The narrative is honest and open on the fight for separation of state and church in late medieval England and the harsh resistance to any kind of Reformation in the Church of England. Once landed in America ethical dilemmas occurred. Wasn't the land 'patented' on behalf of the King of England stolen from the Indians? Is divide and conquer a Christian doctrine? Can death penalty be justified? And how strict are state and church separated in the New World?Somehow - the Fathers believed in God's provision and saw many miracles happen - the New Plymouth enterprise succeeded and became the foundational story for the Constitution and the American identity. The Forgotten, Epic Adventure of the Pilgrims is a commercial sounding subtitle. Are you willing to discover one of the roots of the American society?