Book Review on the Book “The Name of War”
Introduction
History may seem to be a very simple topic for some. However, it is quite the opposite for those who want to know the most accurate historical explanation behind a perceived historical reality available. History is a field that most likely revolves around words and its many uses. This is because the transfer of information from one person’s mouth to another—also known as verbal communication, has been a very important factor that shaped our current concept and belief of history and what it really is about today. Written texts may seem to be the more formal way of reviewing and studying historical events in the past but no matter how we distort it, history did not start from books and writings; it started from words. The objective of this paper is to present a review type of discussion of the book “The Name of War” by Lepore.
In general, Jill Lepore, the author of the book “the Name of War”, talks about a conflict that happened a few decades before modern ages. That conflict was known as King Phillip’s war, named after the Native American Leader who led his people to have a united front against the invaders who want to claim their land. The major turn of events that were described in the book happened a few decades after the renaissance era and also a few decades before the 21st century.
Military history is one of the major themes that the author used in the book. However, the way how she portrayed the theme and described the rather exciting turn of events between the various opposing forces in the conflict is revolutionary. She broke away from the conventional method of retelling a military-related historical event. One of the features that made her way of recounting the events was the level of details. The events were perfectly described as if the one who wrote the texts was, in reality, present somewhere in the battlefield, on both sides of the field, from the time when the war broke out until the declaration of a cease fire. Battles, campaigns, and even each side’s units and armies were perfectly examined. This feature of the book would really help a lot in catching a the readers’ attention considering the fact that history is, according to a significant number of book reviewers, is one of the dullest topics to study.
Aside from the level of details, another thing that is commendable about this book is that it incorporates non-military aspects in retelling a historically-significant military conflict. Other authors would have stopped the moment they reached a certain level of detail in telling their stories. Clearly, that was not the case for Lepore. She intentionally included a touch of literature, language, identity, and memory in her recount of King Phillip’s war. The reason why she decided to include these not-so-related disciplines into her book is because of her strong belief that language and communication always play a critically important role in wars and conflicts and that war and conflicts in turn, contribute a lot to the creation and distortion of memory and identity.
Objectivity is an essential factor that authors of history books always have to consider whenever they try to submit a manuscript for publication which aims to relay any form of historical information. While Lepore’s book seemed so full of dynamics and excitement, the tone used on the text was nevertheless emotionally-detached which is actually a common characteristic of history books is. She was able to recount the events that happened during King Phillip’s war in an exciting way, but at the same time maintained the accuracy of the events that really happened.
She did not focus on the war alone. Various viewpoints were reviewed and studied, and that made her arrive to a conclusion that there was an element of miscommunication between the colonists and the Native Americans which led to a serious conflict, not only in terms of territory but also in culture. It did not take a full year before that conflict escalated into a full-scale war.
The approach she used in transition was also commendable. She divided the book into different chapters and sections to put emphasis on the various themes she wanted to convey. For example, the first section of the book focused on the events during the onset of the war. Here she described the peace, tranquility, and an overall good foreign relationship between the natives and the colonists. The scene filled with peace and tranquility transitioned into a scene filled with chaos and conflict when Sassamon, one of the most reliable and interpreters and aide to the Chief of the Wampanoag Confederacy who served before King Phillip’s war, was killed.
The next chapters of the book continued to describe the chain of events, all with smooth transitions. The significance of this is that it would really help the reader understand the rationales of a certain group involved in the war. Answering the questions what, why and how, would be significantly easier knowing that understanding the real story behind King Phillip’s war was made easy, thanks to Lepore’s unique writing strategy.
References
Lepore, J. (1999). The Name of War: King Phillip's War and the Origins of American Identity. Vintage Publishing.
