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(More customer reviews)Alfred A. Cave presents us with a quick moving, concise, and interesting narrative of the Pequot War. This is significant in and of itself since it is the first notable narrative of the war in almost a century. Cave attempts to correct the early historiography that was very sympathetic to the Puritans, and also tries to temper the interpretations of later historians that viewed the conflict as being caused solely by Puritan greed. Cave argues that the latter interpretation wrongfully diminishes the significance of Puritan ideology as a cause of the war.
Economics did play a role, but it was not a simple case of Puritans versus Pequots. Instead, there was fierce competition between various tribes, as well as the Dutch and English for control of the trade in the Connecticut Valley. Essentially, English plans to extend into Connecticut conflicted with Pequot desires to defend their interests. However, Cave sees that ideology, not Puritan greed or Pequot aggression caused the war. Puritans viewed the natives as "savages" and "children of the Devil," and, therefore, were the Devil's earthly servants deserving destruction. Cave argues that this worldview served as the catalyst for provoking a war with the Pequots.
Cave tends to take this interpretation a little too far. His efforts at correcting the excesses of past scholarship is appreciated, but leaves one wondering why a people so bent on the destruction of Native Americans, allied themselves with the Narragansetts against the Pequots. Nonetheless, this is a very good and interesting book.
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