New Light on the Old Colony: Plymouth, the Dutch Context of Toleration, and Patterns of Pilgrim Commemoration (Early American History Series, 10)

Book info: New Light on the Old Colony: Plymouth, the Dutch Context of Toleration, and Patterns of Pilgrim Commemoration (Early American History Series, 10) (Hardcover, 580 pages) – Brill, 2019. Language: English.

Colonial government, Pilgrims, the New England town, Native land, the background of religious toleration, and the changing memory recalling the Pilgrims – all are examined and stereotypical assumptions overturned in 15 essays by the foremost authority on the Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony. Thorough research revises the story of colonists and of the people they displaced. Bangs’ book is required reading for the history of New England, Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts Natives, the Mennonite contribution to religious toleration in Europe and New England, and the history of commemoration, from paintings and pageants to living history and internet memes. If Pilgrims were radical, so is this book. Editorial Reviews Review "This lengthy book draws on Bangs’s four decades of research into the Pilgrims. The range of topics is wide, including discussions and analyses of intellectual and religious history, the divisions of land in the colony, relevant portraits, old town records, and reception history, among other things. This book is not for beginners, and there is no summarizing narrative of the Pilgrims before and after their voyage to the New World. The basics are assumed. But those who know the story and are interested in digging more deeply will want to consult this informative volume, which is a fitting example of Bangs’s prolific work on the Pilgrims and does in fact shed new light."

Keith D. Stanglin, Austin Graduate School of Theology, in Church History and Religious Culture CHRC 101.1, pp 119-120


"One problem with Pilgrim history is that everyone thinks they already know it. This book makes clear that in forty years of studying the Pilgrims, Bangs has discovered plenty that is new. Historians of early America owe it to themselves to listen."

Michael J. Douma, Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business, in the Journal of Early American History, volume 10, pp. 112-115. About the Author Jeremy Bangs, Ph.D. (Leiden, 1976) is Director of the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum; former Visiting Curator of Manuscripts, Pilgrim Hall Museum; Chief Curator, Plimoth Plantation; Curator, Leiden Pilgrim Documents Center. Author of over 20 books including Strangers and Pilgrims, Travellers and Sojourners (2009).