Books Explaining the Truth About Thanksgiving

America’s Real First Thanksgiving:

St. Augustine, Florida, September 8, 1565 – Paperback – by Robyn Gioia

When most Americans think of the first Thanksgiving, they think of the Pilgrims and the Indians in New England in 1621. But fifty-six years before the Pilgrims celebrated, Spanish explorer Pedro Menendez arrived on the coast of Florida and founded the first North American city, St. Augustine.

On September 8, 1565, the Spanish and the native Timucua celebrated with a feast of Thanksgiving. The Spanish most likely offered cocido, a rich stew made with pork, garbanzo beans, and onions. Perhaps the Timucua provided wild turkey or venison, or even alligator or tortoise, along with corn, beans, and squash.

Learn about our real first Thanksgiving. Learn about Spain and Florida in the 1560s. And make your own cocido from a recipe provided in this important and groundbreaking book. Click here to learn more about this book and get a copy for yourself and your family.

 

The Pilgrims Didn’t Celebrate the First Thanksgiving:

Exposing Myths About Colonial History (Exposed! Myths About Early American History) – Paperback – by Julia McDonnell

Every student grows up hearing about the first Thanksgiving, celebrated by the Pilgrims and Native Americans in 1621. However, that wasn’t the first Thanksgiving! It wasn’t even the first one celebrated by European settlers! This is just one myth debunked in this valuable look at colonial American history. Readers will feel like real historians unearthing the truth behind the legends. Beautiful images and fun fact boxes will add to their interest. Click here to learn more about this book and other information it has to share.

Lies My Teacher Told Me:

Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong – by James W. Loewen

Since its first publication in 1995, Lies My Teacher Told Me has become one of the most important—and successful—history books of our time. Having sold nearly two million copies, the book also won an American Book Award and the Oliver Cromwell Cox Award for Distinguished Anti-Racist Scholarship and was heralded on the front page of the New York Times in the summer of 2006.

For this new edition, Loewen has added a new preface that shows how inadequate history courses in high school help produce adult Americans who think Donald Trump can solve their problems, and calls out academic historians for abandoning the concept of truth in a misguided effort to be “objective.” Click here to learn more about this book; Lies My Teacher Told Me.

The Real Story of Thanksgiving:

Early Contacts Indians and Europeans – by Pippa Pralen

Beyond the Myths: Did you know: the first contact was an English-speaking Indian asking the Pilgrims for a glass of beer? the first landing was not on “Plymouth Rock”? early contacts were happening a century before Plymouth? 100 years before Plymouth coastal Indians shocked the explorer Verrazano with indecent gestures from the shore? Get to know Squanto as more than a man planting fish heads with cornstalks, but rather a talented diplomat. A nuanced view of some of the major characters. A different perspective of the First Thanksgiving, as well as the first years of New England long before Plymouth plantation. Click here to learn more about this book by Pippa Pralen.