Thanksgiving Spotlight: The First Thanksgiving, by Nathaniel Philbrick

Thanksgiving is here, and soon I'll be drowning in gravy and mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce and four days of books, books, and books. (I suppose some turkey, too, but really, turkey is my least favorite part of this holiday.) I'll be spending some time over the next few days getting started on January (!) review copies that have started to stack up over in these parts, but also visiting The First Thanksgiving, an excerpt from Nathaniel Philbrick's more complete history of the Pilgrims and the Mayflower.

When I worked in a bookstore, I spent more hours than I care to remember shelving and re-shelving Nathaniel Philbrick titles. My boss had a thing for Naval history, so had drastically over-ordered In the Heart of the Sea--or so we thought. Turns out, he didn't over-order at all, and the Philbrick books sold far faster than my 18-year-old self could have imagined.

Since then, I've been intrigued by this author and his diverse array of historical subjects, and this seemed like a perfect starting point. The First Thanksgiving is available as an e-book excerpt from Philbrick's longer title, Mayflower, and focuses, as the title might suggest, just on the first Thanksgiving meal. Since this is one of those holidays steeped in Hallmarkery and carefully crafted traditions, I'm excited to take a peek at the history of the meal that started it all in more detail.

What are your Thanksgiving reading plans?