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Clearly I'm the minority here but I found this book raises almost as many questions as it answers, which boggles my mind since there is a 28-page bibliography (in, like, 9 pt font) and it is clearly deeply researched. The Notes are of minimal help with direct answers but does a detailed job directing the reader to sources.
Despite the rather dry writing, a bunch of names I may or may not need to remember, and a whole lotta sailing/boating terminology I just don't get, the first 2/3 of the book, while not gripping by any means, is interesting. It works its way through 50 years or so and contains some interesting anecdotes and information not often found elsewhere.
But at Part IV, it suddenly turns into the type of history book I hate: name, date, place that is not longer called that; name, date, place to the east of previously named place; name, date, somewhere in between the two but not entirely sure where.
This continues for the last 1/3 of the book which covers only 14 months. Because there seems to be so much "he said/she said" with this form of writing, my note reads "This sounds more like a bunch of 8th graders picking on each other than a war," which is a horrific way to think about a conflict that ended with a lot of heads on pikes and eliminated 60-80% of the Native Americans in southern New England and 8% of the Plymouth Colony's men.
There is a startling lack of information/insight into why the war was continuing and what the ultimate goal of either group was. The short answer is "land" and yet there is no follow-up to how that "land" was colonized, occupied, sold, etc. immediately following the war.
The last two chapters give a nice wrap-up of relevant information about the myths that later developed around the Pilgrims' beginnings and the English/Indian conflict.
Despite the rather dry writing, a bunch of names I may or may not need to remember, and a whole lotta sailing/boating terminology I just don't get, the first 2/3 of the book, while not gripping by any means, is interesting. It works its way through 50 years or so and contains some interesting anecdotes and information not often found elsewhere.
But at Part IV, it suddenly turns into the type of history book I hate: name, date, place that is not longer called that; name, date, place to the east of previously named place; name, date, somewhere in between the two but not entirely sure where.
This continues for the last 1/3 of the book which covers only 14 months. Because there seems to be so much "he said/she said" with this form of writing, my note reads "This sounds more like a bunch of 8th graders picking on each other than a war," which is a horrific way to think about a conflict that ended with a lot of heads on pikes and eliminated 60-80% of the Native Americans in southern New England and 8% of the Plymouth Colony's men.
There is a startling lack of information/insight into why the war was continuing and what the ultimate goal of either group was. The short answer is "land" and yet there is no follow-up to how that "land" was colonized, occupied, sold, etc. immediately following the war.
The last two chapters give a nice wrap-up of relevant information about the myths that later developed around the Pilgrims' beginnings and the English/Indian conflict.