I found this book very heavy going and admit to having skipped large chunks of it. I can’t deny that it is a meticulously researched and comprehensive study of Native American John Wompas, who managed to transcend the disadvantages of his time and place to receive an English education and the knowledge and ability to fight for the rights of his fellow Nipmucs – even going so far as to visit King Charles II in England and receiving his support. The book is not just his biography but also an examination of 17th century New England pieced together from what documents remain including many contemporary accounts. The author does an amazing job of recreating the era and its people, but endless squabbles about land ownership, political machinations and court cases really don’t make for riveting reading for the general reader. As a work of scholarship it can’t be faulted, and I certainly learned much of interest from it, but overall I found some of it pretty tedious.

Swindler Sachem by Jenny Hale is about how Native American Wompas was able to play the land game for both personal and economic and political benefit.