So Dreadful a Judgment: Puritan Responses to King Philip's War, 1676-77 [Hardcover]

Richard Slotkin (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1979

For the newly established New England colonies, the war with the Indians of 1675-77 was a catastrophe that pushed the settlements perilously close to worldly ruin. Moreover, it seemed to call into question the religious mission and spiritual status of a group that considered itself a Chosen People, carrying out a divinely inspired "errand into the wilderness." Seven texts reprinted here reveal efforts of Puritan writers to make sense of King Philip's War. Largely unavailable since the 19th century, they represent the various divisions of Puritan society and literary forms typical of Puritan writing, from which emerged some of the most vital genres of American popular writing. Thoroughly annotated, the book contains a general introduction and introductions to each text.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The editorial apparatus in its entirety becomes a masterful essay in cultural studies. I dare say that no other Puritan texts have been edited is so interesting a manner... This is a splendid book, a whole that is greater than its parts."--David D. Hall, Catholic Historical Review --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"A major and permanent contribution to the study of American culture, equally valuable for the fullness of its selections and for the incisive, comprehensive, and enormously suggestive commentaries by the editors" (Sacvan Bercovitch ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 490 pages
• Publisher: Wesleyan Univ Pr; 1st edition (June 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0819550272
• ISBN-13: 978-0819550279
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,183,827 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great primary texts, May 25, 2010

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Brook Brayman (Las Vegas, NV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: So Dreadfull a Judgment: Puritan Responses to King Philip's War, 1676-1677 (Paperback)

This is an excellent collection of primary sources, which is well edited.

It doesn't have too much in the way of annotations and textual apparatus, which I found to be very good for my graduate study in this area. This is a specialized text for people who have an academic interest in this area and who are looking for a rich, yet not overwhelming, collection of primary texts.