The idea for this book arose after Richard Pickering at Plimoth Plantation invited me to participate in a reassessment of the museum’s programming funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. My few days there prompted my thinking about the way we isolate Plymouth when we consider its history. The book benefited from readings by Emily Cahill and Don Pestana. They provided the perspective of the nonacademics, whom I hope this book will reach. As always, both Sharon Salinger and Michael Meranze read much of the book in draft form and discussed my goals and concerns. Nicole Gilhuis helped catch errors and infelicities. Eric Hinderaker and an anonymous reader for Harvard University Press gave me helpful ideas for how to improve it. The talented Isabelle Lewis made the maps. Individuals at various institutions aided my search for images or sources, including the staffs at the Congregational Library and Archives; the Huntington Library; the John Carter Brown Library; the National Museum of American History (Smithsonian Institution); the Pilgrim Hall Museum; Plimoth Plantation; and the State Library of Massachusetts.
Like most people educated in U.S. public schools, I first encountered Plymouth in grade school, particularly around the holiday of Thanksgiving. It therefore seems fitting to dedicate this book to my many excellent history teachers, from grade school through graduate school.