A captivating version of the classic narrative of settlement reveals that much that we think we know about the Pilgrims is wrong--but that the spirit of their first Thanksgiving survives.

The first Thanksgiving wasn't celebrated with turkey (there weren't any in Massachusetts and, even if there had been, the Pilgrims' muskets were unlikely to fire quickly enough to kill one) or cranberry sauce (there was no sugar to sweeten the bitter fruit) and didn't take place in 1621. Indeed the settlers, who probably didn't think of themselves as Pilgrims and were certainly not revolutionaries against their king were lucky not to be wiped out during their first winter.

An original history of our national origins, A Great and Godly Adventure is peppered with delightful and unexpected insights. Godfrey Hodgson sheds new light on the radicalism of the so-called Pilgrims, the financing of their trip, the state of the Indian tribes that they encountered when they landed, and the reasons why Plymouth probably didn't have a rock.