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A review by ajkhn
The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity by Jill Lepore
4.0
I was very, very excited for this book. All throughout reading it, I was very excited for that feeling of having a unique argument presented — and it took all the way for the epilogue for Lepore to really build her case and make her argument. That epilogue is fascinating, and great.
Unfortunately, a lot of the buildup to it was a bit of a slog. Lepore (or her editors) made the odd choice not to modernize the syntax and spelling of any of her 17th-century sources, which makes them tough to read through. For an end-noted history book, this seems like a weird choice.
In general, I found myself trying to piece things together and trusting Lepore to make the arguments much more then I was able to really follow along. I had to put a lot of myself into reading this, which I just was not really able to do all the time because of how I chose to read this book (not as a text, but as a book to read before falling asleep at night).
The book delivers everything it says it will, and I am very glad I read it. I just needed a lot more time and heart to read it than I expected. That's four stars on me, as much as it is on Lepore.
Unfortunately, a lot of the buildup to it was a bit of a slog. Lepore (or her editors) made the odd choice not to modernize the syntax and spelling of any of her 17th-century sources, which makes them tough to read through. For an end-noted history book, this seems like a weird choice.
In general, I found myself trying to piece things together and trusting Lepore to make the arguments much more then I was able to really follow along. I had to put a lot of myself into reading this, which I just was not really able to do all the time because of how I chose to read this book (not as a text, but as a book to read before falling asleep at night).
The book delivers everything it says it will, and I am very glad I read it. I just needed a lot more time and heart to read it than I expected. That's four stars on me, as much as it is on Lepore.