The Sovereignty and Goodness of God, by Mary Rowlandson

Book Review by: Ellen Stecker

The book put together on Mary Rowlandson's captivity is an educating primary document. This edition is especially worth reading because of the editor's Introduction and the Related documents that add to Mary Rowlandson's story. This book has three main sections: Introduction, Primary Document, and Related Documents.

The Introduction gave the history and setting leading up to Mary Rowlandson's capture by Indians. One of the big wars mentioned is Metacom's War. It also told about Mary Rowlandson before she married and moved to Lancaster. At the end, there is information on the time after the war and what happened after Mary Rowlandson was ransomed and returned from captivity. When I think of history, I think of dates and facts, so i am hesitant to think it is interesting. As a result, I have done pretty well at avoiding reading history. However, when I read about the Indians history and Puritans, I found it was very educating and supplementing to the story of Mary Rowlandson.

The Primary Document was written by Mary Rowlandson when she was in captivity. It is divided into sections by each time the Indians moved locations. Each of the movements are called removes, and Rowlandson records twenty. Rowlandson's writings are descriptive on how she is feeling, where she is going, and how the Indians treat her. I liked reading about Mary Rowlandson's experience because it made history a personal experience. Mary Rowlandson's story is unique and her individuality shows a different perspective. More specifically, the different perspective comes from her gender as a woman and her spirituality as a Puritan.

At the end, seventeen related documents helped fill in more information surrounding Mary Rowlandson's experience. A lot of the short documents were first-hand correspondence letters. The English and Indians negotiated for the captives. After the war, there are documents recording what happened to the Indians. Older Indians were sold, and the children whose parents died were placed into English households until age 20. An interesting experience that happened at the same time as Mary Rowlandson is Hannah Dustin's capture and escape. Hannah Dustin was capture with her nurse. With planning and help from her nurse, Hannah Dustin scalped 10 Indians and escaped back to Lancaster. The longest and most important document published with Mary Rowlandson's document is her husband's last sermon. Joseph Rowlandson's sermon gave insight on the Puritan perspective. I noticed the underlying belief from Joseph and Mary Rowlandson is that when people suffer it is God telling them they aren't where they need to be spiritually. I enjoyed reading the sermon because I could compare to what I believe and reflect on personal insights.

Mary Rowlandson's experience is a remarkable story to learn about history with the Puritans, Indians, and English. The history comes alive reading from the person who experienced it. I am thankful Mary Rowlandson recorded her captivity experience. History was brought to my interest in a new way by reading Mary Rowlandson's primary document.