King Philips War is a wonderful telling of a lesser known war during colonial times. It marks many important historical actions such as the creation of the US Army Rangers, and the idea that the colonists could not call upon their native England for aid, but were mostly independent.

King Philip was originally named Metacomet by his father, His father later had Plymouth legislators bestow the name Philip on him and Alexander on his brother. Philip rejected that name. He believed that the land belonged to his Wampanog tribe, and not to the colonists as they came in ever increasing numbers to possess more and more land. Once Philip became the Wampanog leader, it didn’t take long for tensions to arise after the killing of a settler and subsequent executions of the Native Americans involved.

Phillip’s war was significant in that he was able to ally with other Native American tribes as well as with Dutch and French settlers in his aggression again the colonists. It was important that because of this war, Benjamin Church created the US Army Rangers. They used their own clothes and munitions,, as well as many Native American tactics to gain ground. This war also caused many otherwise independent colonists to form coalitions to defeat Philip in 1676. This book recounts vividly the turbulent atmosphere of this time, exposing the often poorly supplied colonies versus the well supplied ones. .It also shows how so many Native American tribes were killed as the colonists’ skills in warfare increased, as their desperation to maintain the land did so as well. It is an important chapter in the early colonization of America that makes for a quick read.

As someone who was born and raised in New England ( New Hampshire ) I have always been very interested in the events that went on as Europeans arrived and lived here in the 1600's. Life was full of dangers for both sides - conflicts, diseases, crop failures, long winters, hurricanes ... you name it. As tensions rised and issues between the British and French rose, the Native tribes in the area decided to take sides in hope of regaining their lands and chasing away the English. Bloody attacks from both sides left many dead and homeless. If you want to read events and thoughts from both sides, then this book helps you to see just how people in those times and from both backgrounds thought. Very helpful for research as well.

I am fairly familiar with Osprey Publishing; they publish several illustrated 'army' books that are a huge help for table top strategy gamers who like to assemble and paint their own models (so I have several books from this publisher). Sadly the kindle version of this book jumbles the illustration layouts making it difficult to fully enjoy them. This seems to be a common problem with preview mobi files; the pdf version looks fine.

The book itself breaks down each of the factors that contributed to the war. Each section picks up a specific theme, such as who the players were (profiles of peoples and their leaders), how each side was organized, what weapons and equipment were utilized and how the war itself was prosecuted. Over all, each section was clear and concise. The author doesn't try to explore the causes of the war very deeply, it does come across as something of a colonial apologetic. Even without looking at what motivated the war, you can infer a lot just from how everybody reacted to what was happening and the book does a good job laying that out. I was a little surprised by the lack of support (even some antipathy) from the British Crown for the New England Puritans. In the end, I think it provides an excellent foundation to exploring the war influenced the evolution of the English colonies and perhaps why New England became the Revolutionary power keg by which England lost control of her colonies.

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
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