After King Philips War: Presence and Persistence in Indian New England

This collection provides new perspectives on three centuries of Indian presence in New England. The 1676 killing of Metacomet, the tribal leader dubbed in.King Philipin. by colonists, is commonly seen as a watershed event, marking the end of a bloody war, dissolution of Indian society in New England, and even the disappearance of Native peoples from the region. This collection challenges that assumption, showing that Indians adapted and survived, existing quietly on the fringes of Yankee society, less visible than before but nonetheless retaining a distinct identity and heritage. While confinement on tiny reservations, subjection to increasing state regulation, enforced abandonment of traditional dress and means of support, and racist policies did cause dramatic changes, Natives nonetheless managed to maintain their Indianness through customs, kinship, and community.
,br>An outstanding, well-timed introduction to the abundance of emerging scholarship on post-1676 New England native peoples. Calloway has selected some of the very best, most innovative work in this area, and he prefaces the collection with an excellent, concise, highly readable summary of both New England native history before as well as after 1676 and of the scholarly work that has shaped our understanding of that history. -- Neal Salisbury, Smith College