So Dreadfull a Judgment

A classic selection of materials on Philip's War.

For the newly established New England colonies, the war with the Indians of 1675–77 was a catastrophe that pushed the settlements perilously close to worldly ruin. Moreover, it seemed to call into question the religious mission and spiritual status of a group that considered itself a Chosen People, carrying out a divinely inspired "errand into the wilderness." Seven texts reprinted here reveal efforts of Puritan writers to make sense of King Philip's War. Largely unavailable since the 19th century, they represent the various divisions of Puritan society and literary forms typical of Puritan writing, from which emerged some of the most vital genres of American popular writing. Thoroughly annotated, the book contains a general introduction and introductions to each text.

RICHARD SLOTKIN is Olin Professor of English at Wesleyan University. He wrote two books originally published by Wesleyan: Regeneration though Violence (1973), winner of the American Historical Association's Beveridge Award, and The Fatal Environment (1985), which won the Little Big Horn Association Award. He also wrote Gunfighter Nation (1992) and three historical novels. JAMES K. FOLSOM was Professor of English at University of Colorado, Boulder, and author of The Western (1979), Timothy Flint (1965), and Man's Accidents and Gods Purposes (1963).