So Dreadfull A Judgment / Edition 1

by Richard Slotkin, James K. Folsom

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780819560582
Publisher:	Wesleyan University Press
Publication date:	01/01/1999
Edition description:	1st ed
Pages:	501
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.13(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

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).

Table of Contents

Introduction
Increase Mather: Puritan Mythologist
Benjamin Thompson: First American Epic Poet
Thomas Wheeler: The Christian Hero
Samuel Nowell: Prophet of Preparedness
Mary Rowlandson: Captive Witness
Benjamin Church: King of the Wild Frontier
Bibliography Index

What People are Saying About This

Sacvan Bercovitch

"A major and permanent contribution to the study of American culture, equally valuable for the fullness of its selections and for the incisive, comprehensive, and enormously suggestive commentaries by the editors"

From the Publisher

"A major and permanent contribution to the study of American culture, equally valuable for the fullness of its selections and for the incisive, comprehensive, and enormously suggestive commentaries by the editors"—Sacvan Bercovitch

Editorial Reviews

"The editorial apparatus in its entirety becomes a masterful essay in cultural studies. I dare say that no other Puritan texts have been edited is so interesting a manner... This is a splendid book, a whole that is greater than its parts."—David D. Hall, Catholic Historical Review

"A major and permanent contribution to the study of American culture, equally valuable for the fullness of its selections and for the incisive, comprehensive, and enormously suggestive commentaries by the editors"—Sacvan Bercovitch

From the Publisher