Bradford’s Indian Book suggests that William Bradford’s Of Plimoth Plantation is the first work of American literature and as such is embedded in a set of Indian traditions and ways of understanding the world. Partly a close, detailed analysis of the specific text and partly a broader analysis of Native identity, literary influences, and spiritual affiliation, the book makes a sophisticated and compelling claim for the way Indian influences permeate this Puritan text.

In Bradford’s Indian Book, Betty Booth Donohue examines Of Plimoth Plantation with reference to the ways Bradford incorporated Native American philosophy and culture into his writing. By highlighting this largely unrecognized influence in a founding American literary document, Donohue sheds important light on the Native contribution to the new national literature. This is the first book in American literary theory that is written partially in a Native language, Cherokee.

Dr. Betty Booth Donohue, a Cumberland Presbyterian from Tulsa First Church (now merged with Tulsa Faith), is an independent scholar and a member of the Cherokee Nation. In Bradford’s Indian Book, Donohue quotes a great deal from Randy and Betty Jacob.