The Name of War

Born in Massachusetts, author Lepore receives her PhD in history from Yale and becomes a professor at Harvard and a staff writer for The New Yorker. She has written more than a dozen books, has won numerous awards, and has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. 

Born Metacom to the great Wampanoag leader Massasoit, but later taking an English name, Philip becomes chief—or “king,” as the English put it—of his people after his father and older brother die. Philip spends many years trying, like Massasoit, to get along with the colonists, but becomes frustrated with their continuous incursions into Native lands, the unfairness of the English court system toward the Indians, and the settlers’ persistent efforts to replace Native spiritual beliefs with Christianity. He forms an alliance of tribes in 1675 and launches King Philip’s War against the colonies, burning towns and killing their inhabitants. The war peters out after Philip is shot to death in 1676.