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Igniting King Philip 15 War: The John Sassamon Murder Trial. By Yasuhide Kawashima. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2001. ISBN 0-- 7006-1093-6. Map. Bibliographical essay. Index. Pp. xii, 201. $14.95.
King Philip's War was the most destructive of the colonial conflicts between Native Americans and European settlers in North America. The uprising led by Metacom (King Philip) in 1675 soon grew into a pan-Indian assault on English towns that damaged fifty-two settlements and completely destroyed twelve. Casualty figures are unreliable, but as a percentage of total population they were probably not matched by any subsequent American war. For the Indians, the war's outcome was disastrous. It marked the end of their independence in New England.
While the causes of the conflict were complex and remain somewhat controversial, most modern scholars agree that the Puritans' fear of Indians and their refusal to acknowledge the legitimacy...