King Philip's War: Civil War in New England, 1675-1676 (Native Americans of the Northeast: Culture, History, & the Contemporary) [Paperback]

James David Drake (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 257 pages
• Publisher: Univ of Massachusetts Pr (February 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558492240
• ISBN-13: 978-1558492240
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #348,500 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Academically self-fulling point of view, April 19, 2000

By 

Ron Gomez (Brazil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: King Philip's War: Civil War in New England, 1675-1676 (Native Americans of the Northeast: Culture, History, & the Contemporary) (Paperback)

This is a well researched, academic book that has a fundamental flaw: the underlying thesis, that King Philip's War was a civil war, is preposterous.

The differences between native and English societies on the eve of the war were profound--Philip says as much to John Easton a week before the war. The fact that the English attempt to control the war through a series of treaties also speaks to the two, separate societies. Ask Russell Peters of the Wampanoag, or Ella Sekataw of the Narragansett, what they think of the civil war thesis.

Drake writes well, but this essay was clearly composed to meet the demands of a thesis committee, not common sense. Also, as with Lepore's book, you need to read a history of King Philip's War before you can begin to understand what Drake is trying to say. To do that, start with Ellis, Leach or Schultz/Tougias.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Important Contribution, June 21, 2002

By 

Christopher Riggs (Lewiston, ID USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: King Philip's War: Civil War in New England, 1675-1676 (Native Americans of the Northeast: Culture, History, & the Contemporary) (Paperback)

This is a clearly written and thoughtful analysis of King Philip's War. While some may disagree with the author's characterization of the conflict as a "civil war," Drake effectively illuminates the important and complex connections that developed among the New England colonies and some Native American nations and how those connections helped to bring about the war.

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-Written, Well-Argued and Balanced Treatment, April 17, 2000

By 

Daniel R. Seligman - See all my reviews

This review is from: King Philip's War: Civil War in New England, 1675-1676 (Native Americans of the Northeast: Culture, History, & the Contemporary) (Paperback)

James D. Drake's "King Philip's War" offers a tight, well-argued thesis that the King Philip War should be viewed more as a civil insurrection than a "settler-versus-Indian" conflict. It is not a chronological account of the war but rather a well-researched interpretation. For a detailed account of the war's events, the reader should see Douglas Leach's "Flintlock and Tomahawk" or Jill Lepore's "The Name of War." Indeed, for a full appreciation of Drake's arguments it is probably a good idea to have read beforehand one or the other of these excellent accounts.

Drake examines the tensions among the various groups that figured in the war -- the bickering among the English colonies, the divided loyalties of the so-called praying Indians, the complex relationships among the Wampanoags, Narragansetts and other Algonquian tribes -- and argues that the war can best be explained as a conflict within single a society rather than a racial conflict between the Puritans and the natives. He frequently resorts to the molecular analogy of covalent bonding to explain how different groups can contribute to a definable whole (the molecule) while remaining in some fashion distinct (the atoms).

Drake's work invites comparison with Russell Bourne's "The Red King's Rebellion," also an interpretive piece. Bourne examines how an amicable relationship between the Puritans and the Algonquians dating from the arrival of the Mayflower in 1620 degenerated into an ugly armed conflict in the 1670s. While both Bourne and Drake take pains to examine the war from the perspectives of both the colonists and the Algonquians, Drake seems a little less prone to condemn the Puritans and more willing to view their treatment of the natives in the context of contemporary European attitudes toward war and rebellion.

"King Philip's War," a well-written, well-argued and balanced treatment of a complex subject, is both good scholarship and good reading.