Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson

Author(s): Mary White Rowlandson

Genre(s): *non-fiction, History, Memoirs

Narrators: Matthew Scott Surprenant

Number of Chapters: 3

Length: 1 hour and 52 minutes

Language: English

This is the story of Mary Rowlandson’s capture by American Indians in 1675. It is a blunt, frightening, and detailed work with several moments of off-color humor. Mary, the wife of a minister, was captured by Natives during King Philip's War while living in a Lancaster town, most of which was decimated, and the people murdered. See through her eyes, which depict Indians as the instruments of Satan. Her accounts were a best-seller of the era, and a seminal work, being one of the first captivity narratives ever published by a woman. Without works such as hers, there would likely not be many modern works inspired by similar themes, such as The Searchers, starring John Wayne.(Summary by Matthew Scott Surprenant)