What can the story of two ships — the Mayflower in the North and the White Lion in the South — tell us about the fractures that define the American experiment on the eve of the nation’s 250th anniversary?
One vessel arrived in Plymouth with the Pilgrims; another arrived in Jamestown with the first enslaved Africans to reach our soil. In Two Ships: Jamestown 1619, Plymouth 1620, and the Struggle for the Soul of America, David S. Reynolds traces the origins of the nation’s deepest political and moral divides through two vessels that arrived on American shores just a year apart: the White Lion in 1619 and the Mayflower in 1620 — a book that Henry Louis Gates, Jr. calls "essential reading for today’s polarized times." These two ships, invoked by Frederick Douglass and many others, stood for two distinct ideas about America: an egalitarian political vision of democracy, and a world steeped in slavery and the ideas of divine right.
Together, Reynolds and Painter offer more than a history lesson. Hear two renowned historians discuss the stories Americans tell themselves, the ideals they inherit, and the unfinished arguments that continue to shape American public life.
“David S. Reynolds has found a new and compelling way to explore the infinite complexities of the American story — complexities that shape us still.” — Jon Meacham