This biography presents a well-rounded picture of Phips, one that looks at all phases of his colourful career. He was an unusual figure among colonial governors, and his very uniqueness, as well as his difficulties as governor, help us to understand the politics and society of New England during his era. Helped and hindered by his obscure origins, Phips struggled for advancement, and his struggle illustrates the fluid nature of the late seventeenth-century empire.
Phips's life has been left unexplored by scholars for the past seventy years. The New England Knight reconstructs his career using contemporary material that brings life and immediacy to the narrative. It interacts with recent studies in colonial, imperial, aboriginal, and marine history, to set Phips's eventful life in context.
