Pocahontas: The Life And The Legend

by Frances Mossiker

The amazing story and alluring personality of Pocahontas (1595–1617) have endured the enlargement of legend and the distortions of time, as if waiting for Mossiker's skill, scholarship, and sensitivity to reveal Pocahontas as she was. This biography illuminates the dual world within which she struggled to identify herself, and her enormous impact on its leading figures: the first encounters and skirmishes between Indians and Englishmen in 1607; Pocahontas's dramatic rescue of Captain John Smith and her later abduction; her marriage to the Father of Tobacco, John Rolfe; the fateful voyage to England and her early death. The book also examines the myths and commercialization that have entombed Pocahontas through the centuries. In absorbing detail this vivid biography resurrects the real Pocahontas and unveils the uses—noble and ignoble—America has made of her.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, Historical

422 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1976

Reviews

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars, rounded up

After reading The Jamestown Brides by Jennifer Potter, I was so intrigued to find out more about the life of Pocahontas. This book delivers exactly what I was hoping for!

Mossiker dives deep into the settlement of Jamestown, Virginia and sets the stage with all the politics and conflict at play in the "new world". So much detail was shared about Pocahontas, including conflicting accounts and information about their probable validity. I was so engrossed in this audiobook throughout, although I imagine you'd be bored if you solely want to know about Pocahontas, and not all of the elements surrounding the Europeans in her land and then her greater legacy. I was fascinated, however, as a lover of detail and dry non-fiction (although not the driest I've read by any means). I did find the author to be critical of Christianity at several points, which felt out of place given how objective the majority of this biography leans.


I'm already fully aware of how awful Disney is as a company, but was still shocked at how they romanticized the story of Pocahontas and John Smith- who is not the man she marries and has children with. She was thought to be at maximum 12 years old while he is in his mid to late twenties upon their meeting so I'm even more disgusted by Disney's glorification and tainting of the true account.

[Donny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall a good story and written well. I got as good of an understanding of the story of Pocahontas as possible. The issue is that there is so little written record from the life of Pocahontas that it felt the author had to give a great amount of tangential information in order to complete a "full length" biography. Some of this tangential information was interesting, others quite mundane or boring. There were several chapter before we were introduced to Pocahontas and several after her death. The long passages detailing the many appearances of Pocahontas in art and literature could have been culled down to about 1/10 of the length (if necessary at all). Overall, I am still glad I read the book, but would have rather read a book about 2/3 the length that focused more on the life of Pocahontas.

[Erin Simone · Rating 5 out of 5]

"She has escaped into legend"

[Rachael · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was incredibly BORING! The majority of the information in this book could have been left out! I would say about 1/4 of it is actually about Pocahontas and her life. The rest was politics. I was able to glean a tiny bit of historical information relevent to my family, so that was interesting.