First published in 1682, Mary Rowlandson’s captivity narrative is one of the earliest and most influential works of American autobiography. Rowlandson recounts her eleven weeks as a captive of Narragansett warriors during King Philip’s War (1675–76), describing her ordeal with a combination of Puritan faith, striking pragmatism, and vivid observation of Native American life.
Widely read in the colonial period and studied ever since as a foundational text in American literature, this memoir offers a unique window into seventeenth-century New England. Download the free EPUB and read this gripping historical narrative for yourself.