BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gallagher, Edward J. and Thomas Werge. “Writings About William Bradford, 1669-1973.” In Early Puritan Writers: A Reference Guide,pp. 1-58. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1976.

Annotated bibliography that includes extensive studies as well as brief references to Bradford.

BIOGRAPHIES

Doherty, Kieran. William Bradford: Rock of Plymouth. Brookfield, Conn.: Twenty-First Century Books, 1999, 189 p.

Examines both Bradford and the history of the early Pilgrims, attempting to flesh out the sparse records of Bradford's personal life.

Smith, Bradford. Bradford of Plymouth. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1951, 331 p.

Describes the story of Bradford's life as simultaneously the story of America and calls Bradford the first American.

CRITICISM

Daly, Robert. “William Bradford's Vision of History.” American Literature 44, No. 4 (1973): 557-69.

Argues that Of Plymouth Plantation reveals Bradford's disillusionment with the Plymouth colony.

Franklin, Wayne. “Settlement Narrative: Like an Ancient Mother.” In Discoverers, Explorers, Settlers: The Diligent Writers of Early America, pp. 123-78. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979.

Finds Of Plymouth Plantation to be a symbolic history, preserving the Pilgrim vision that was never fully realized.

Howard, Alan B. “Art and History in Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation.” William and Mary Quarterly 28, No. 2 (1971): 237-66.

Describes Bradford's historiographic method as the art of discovering God's design in the random events of history.

Morison, Samuel Eliot. Introduction to Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647, edited by Samuel Eliot Morrison, pp. xxii-xliii. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1952.

Provides a short biography and a thorough history of Bradford's manuscript both before its disappearance and after its discovery.

Partenheimer, David. “Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation: 1620-1647.” The Explicator 56, No. 3 (1998): 121-23.

Focuses on biblical typology in the section of Of Plymouth Plantation titled “Of Their Voyage,” particularly as it reflects Bradford's efforts to present the Pilgrims' struggles as part of a divine plan.

Rosenmeier, Jesper. “‘With My Owne Eyes’: William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation.” In Typology and Early American Literature, edited by Sacvan Bercovitch, pp. 69-105. Amherst: University of Massachusetts, 1972.

Considers Bradford's Hebrew studies and his verse in interpreting the author's efforts at creating a providential history.

Runyan, Michael G. William Bradford: The Collected Verse, edited by Michael G. Runyan, St. Paul, Minn.: The John Colet Press, 1974, 276 p.

Provides extensive introductions and annotations for several of Bradford's works.

Scheick, William J. “The Theme of Necessity in Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation.” Seventeenth-Century News 32, No. 4 (1974): 88-90.

Traces the idea of need as a divine force through Bradford's history, noting Bradford's increasing awareness of the difficulty of ascertaining divine intent.

Additional coverage of Bradford's life and career is contained in the following sources published by Gale Group: Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vols. 24 and 30.