The first book I looked at that dealt with King Philip's War was Jill Lepore's The Name of War.  It was published a few years ago by a Harvard professor and a popular book among colonial American Historians.  In fact, my advisor had gone to graduate school with Prof. Lepore, and I felt that this would be the definitive history of the conflict.  I read the entire thing; looking back, I didn't like it much on the first read.  It seemed to be ignoring the actual conflict and instead emphasizing the importance of what was written about the war.


    In time, I would come to understand that the legacy of King Philip's War was actually the most interesting thing about it.  There were no significant battles and the outcome was not particularly glamorous, even for the victorious English.  The real reason I didn't enjoy Jill Lepore's book was that it dealt mostly with issues that were national in scope: one of her central examples of the legacy of Metacom was a famous early nineenth century play entitled Metamora, or, The Last of the Wampanoags.  The play was extremely popular across the country, and shows that Metacom's War has its place in the national American mythology.  
    What I really wanted to do was show that the same things Jill Lepore applied to the whole country were just as prevalent in Bristol, the exact spot of Philip's home and the site of his death.