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Wall Street Journal

“Squanto” Review: An Encounter at Plymouth

Squanto traveled the Atlantic long before meeting the Pilgrims. Learning the role of interpreter, he made his language skill an asset.

"Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor" (1882), an oil painting by William Halsall of the ship that in December 1620 brought Pilgrims to New England where they established the Massachusetts colony. (Getty Images)
Caption
"Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor" (1882), an oil painting by William Halsall. (Getty Images)

If the name Squanto doesn’t ring a bell, ask an 8-year-old. The story of the Native American who helped the Pilgrims survive their first desperate year in what is now Plymouth, Mass., has become a staple of elementary-school curricula. The laudable objective is to give the Wampanoag people their due in the often-misrepresented Thanksgiving story.

Andrew Lipman accomplishes this task and more in “Squanto: A Native Odyssey,” a captivating, elegantly written biography of the man Plymouth Gov. William Bradford declared “a special instrument sent of God.” Mr. Lipman, who teaches history at Barnard College, reconstructs the remarkable life and times of the Pilgrims’ interpreter, teacher, counselor and diplomatic go-between while drawing a portrait of the Wampanoag culture that shaped him. It appears that “Squanto” is the first book for adult readers on this intriguing figure in early American history.

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