VanZandt92 said:
I'd also note that in the contemporary American mind, colonial America is probably a short blurb of time before the Revolutionary War. The fact is that it stretched for hundreds of years, and is easily neglected unless you target some reading to it. I want to know so much more about New England during those years, but damn if you don't come across a reference to witch burning in Salem at every turn.
Funny enough, the Salem craze was at least partially due to King William's War. One of the earliest accusers was a survivor of the Maine frontier who lost most of her family and wound up accusing folks like Burroughs, the minister, who were from the same area in Maine and had survived.
For reading about early New England warfare I recommend "The Name of War" by Lepore, "The Skulking Way of War" by Malone, "The Pequot War" by Cave, "European and Native American Warfare," by Starkey, "The Red King's Rebellion," by Bourne, "Natives and Newcomers," by Axtell (especially the article called "The Moral Dilemmas of Scalping"), and Slotkin's masterpiece, "Regeneration Through Violence."