The Times of Their Lives: Life, Love, and Death in the Plymouth Colony - Hardcover

Deetz, James; Deetz, Patricia Scott

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0716738309 ISBN 13: 9780716738305

Publisher: W. H. Freeman, 2000

Synopsis

Who were the Pilgrims? Far from the somberly clad, stern, and righteous figures children learn about in school, many of the early settlers of Plymouth actually dressed in bright colors, drank heavily, and often got into trouble.

A surprising new look at America's founding fathers and mothers, The Times of Their Lives presents a realistic, factual account of the Plymouth colony based on contemporary archaeology, cultural research, and living history. Taking little known trial transcripts, personal accounts, wills and probate records, as well as physical artifacts such as shards and spoons unearthed from old foundations, James and Patricia Deetz reveal what life in seventeenth century Plymouth was really like. In the process they blow the dust off the dull, wooden figures of tradition and show the people of Plymouth as vibrant individuals who lived out complex and colorful lives in a world profoundly different than our own.

Beginning with an eyewitness account of the first Thanksgiving, The Times of Their Lives offers an often startling portrait of Plymouth Colony that includes aspects of the legal system, folk beliefs, family life, women’s roles and gender issues, eating habits, alcohol use, sexual misconduct, domestic violence, suspicious deaths, and violent crimes.

The result is an impeccably researched and highly imaginative work that shakes up our view of one of the most cherished myths of American history.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"No one is able better to interpret the material culture and lived history of the Pilgrims of Plymouth than James Deetz, and this book is the full harvest of his long and fruitful scholarship. Giving new life to an old myth, Dietz demonstrates that as far as Plymouth and the Pilgrims are concerned, the past is not what it used to be, and probably never was. Meticulous, generous, and irreverent, this work partakes of those same qualities that describe the career of one of America's foremost cultural anthropologists. He has written an instant classic."

--Peter J. Gomes, Harvard University, former Librarian and President of the Pilgrim Society of Plymouth

"With its riveting history and graceful prose, The Times of Their Lives will transport readers back to the seventeenth-century world of Plymouth, Massachusetts. At the same time the book urges us to consider the present, especially our tenacious hold on the nation's cherished Pilgrim myths. Thoughtful, provocative, creative, and inclusive, this book will engage any student of American history and culture. It's the next best thing to time travel."

--Elizabeth Reis, Department of History, University of Oregon, author of Damned Women: Sinners and Witches in Puritan New England

"There is no one who could possibly know more on a firsthand basis about life, love, and death at the 17th century American colony of Plymouth, Massachusetts than Jim Deetz. As an archaeologist, he has personally discovered the Plymouth colonists' day to day buried artifacts and, to explain their meaning, developed authentic and engaging living history programs for the thousands of yearly visitors to the Plymouth Colony museum. Add to that Deetz' meticulous journey through the vast store of 17th century personal and public records of the 17th century people of Plymouth, you arrive at a fresh, compelling, and entertaining story of the foundation and early development of a significant segment of early American society."

-- William M. Kelso, Director of Archaeology, Jamestown Rediscovery

"While keeping their eyes trained on the Plymouth Colony, James Deetz and Patricia Scott Deetz envision an exciting new kind of cultural history, shaped by paths they cut through historical archaeology, anthropology, material culture, and social history. The Times of Their Lives should be required reading."

-- Robert Blair St. George, author of Conversing by Signs, and Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania

"Mythic in power, graceful in presentation, The Times of Their Lives is a gift to the people."

-- Henry Glassie, Folklore Institute, Indiana University

Praise for James Deetz:
I read In Small Things Forgotten as a graduate student and have never been able to look at artifacts--or history--in quite the same way. For my students it is still the first step.

-- Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Pulitzer Prize winning author of A Midwife's Tale

From the Inside Flap:

James Deetz, who until his death was a leading expert on the archaeology of Plymouth Colony, and his wife, cultural historian Patricia Scott Deetz, give a realistic and fascinating picture of life in colonial America as they recount, in colorful detail, the true story of Plymouth Colony.
The Pilgrims were not the somber, dark-clad historical figures children learn about in school. Nor were they nearly as pious as we've been led to believe: they wore brightly colored clothing, drank heavily, had adulterous affairs, and committed both petty and serious crimes against their neighbors. Using court transcripts, wills, probate listings, rare first-hand accounts, and archeological finds, the Deetzes delve into everyday life in Plymouth Colony, accurately recasting one of the most cherished chapters of American history.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. H. Freeman
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0716738309
• ISBN 13: 9780716738305
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384