Our Beloved Kin

A New History of King Philip’s War

By: Lisa Brooks

Narrated by: Rainy Fields

A compelling and original recovery of Native American resistance and adaptation to colonial America

With rigorous original scholarship and creative narration, Lisa Brooks recovers a complex picture of war, captivity, and Native resistance during the "First Indian War" (later named King Philip's War) by relaying the stories of Weetamoo, a female Wampanoag leader, and James Printer, a Nipmuc scholar, whose stories converge in the captivity of Mary Rowlandson. Through both a narrow focus on Weetamoo, Printer, and their network of relations, and a far broader scope that includes vast Indigenous geographies, Brooks leads us to a new understanding of the history of colonial New England and of American origins.

Brooks's pathbreaking scholarship is grounded not just in extensive archival research but also in the land and communities of Native New England, reading the actions of actors during the 17th century alongside an analysis of the landscape and interpretations informed by tribal history.

©2018 Lisa Brooks (P)2019 Tantor

Important book, but lacks both narrative drive and skillful narration

The narration was exceptionally poor, marked by numerous mispronunciations and a monotone voice. Read it; don’t listen to it

One of the best books in the subject

You can get over the narration which is not ideal - But the content is outstanding- the detail and perspective on the war it’s causes and players is really unmatched - Not a beginner book read one of the others for overall perspective then listen here

Great writing marred by reader

The reader pauses and mispronounces words. Does not read in a smooth, conversational pace. It is jarring and a disservice to the excellent scholarship and content.

Brilliant book marred by poor narration.

This is a brilliant, innovative, and meticulously researched book that brings a new perspective to King Philip's War. Read it; do not listen to it. It is painful and jarring to hear the narrator pause where no pauses should be and stumble over words, making the reader wonder why on earth she was selected.

Sean

Powerful. Written for anyone who craves knowing, beloved kin.

Don’t be mad, have good ways.

<3

Important, interesting book --poorly read

I've just started this and will come back to it when I'm done, though I can already share that this is a monumentally creative and information-rich book with all sorts of insights about early (for Europeans) New England that by rights should be reframing centrally any kind of standard narrative about this place and this time. The reader, though. I like her voice, her pronunciation is clear -- but this sounds like a trial run, like a beginner's effort. I'm glad it's an audiobook, but I wish the publisher had hired someone who could parse the syntax comprehensibly. The reader pauses as bizarre places (ends of lines?? page break??) that force a person to be aware of her reading -- and often to re-listen to the paragraph. She also heavily over-emphasizes and in illogical places. ("She heavily over-EMPHASIZES and IN illogical PLACES", for example.) It's as if she's not fully understanding what she's reading. Actors do this all the time, and you can catch their non-comprehension occasionally, but the sounds of what-does-this-mean are all over the place in this audiobook. It's a shame, because this book is IMPORTANT and deserves more professional treatment. In addition, because she does such a strange job with the sentences, the reader cannot be trusted, to my ear at least, to be offering the pronunciation of the many Wampanoak and other Native names and words correctly. She seems to be consistent, at least, so it's comprehensible. Nevertheless, this audiobook has that one worst flaw: it creates a palpable divide between the reader and the text rather than becoming an imperceptible conduit to the content. Hire professionals (and pay them properly). This is a librivox-level narration. A *poor* librivox narration.

Poor reading

The reader seems to struggle with some of the words (Native American place names, Latin terms, etc). That's understandable, but she also struggles with the syntax of some sentences. It's clear from how she places the stress or groups words together in sentences that she is not always following their meaning. This makes it quite challenging to follow along. I would recommend reading this book in print instead.

tedious

I have read several books on King Philip's War as well books on the Pilgrim and Puritan settlements. I looked forward to hearing the story told through native eyes, but I found the first couple of chapters slow moving and somewhat rpetitive. It often seemed that ten words were used when only one or two were needed. It took me over two months to drag myself through the first two chapters before I decided to give up. I do like emphasizing the differences that the two cultures ('English' and 'Native American'), particularly the difference in land ownership versus land use. But Brooks is hardly the first to point his out as most modern works of history try not to be one-sided in the approach. So while I thought that the premise of Brooks was worth the read, the execution totally failed to engage me.
And I quite disliked the narrator. (Guess I'm picky as I don't like a lot of narrators.) But mine is just one opinion.

Compelling narrative ruined by terrible narration

The narrator may be the worst I've heard in the many years I've been an Audible subscriber. She has no rhythm to her speech. Her mispronunciations are a distraction. For example, she pronounces the name of the Taunton River as if it were named after the Tauntaun creature from the planet Hoth of Star Wars. Which is disheartening because the author has such a compelling and important argument to interpret and it's a shame that it's lost in the narration.

Good book, terrible reading

This is an example of how reliant audiobooks are on a competent performance. While i can forgive the narrator, Rainy Fields, for being tripped up by the many algonquin names, i found her generally halting and arduously enunciated reading difficult to listen to. Her frequent pauses, apparently neither for emphasis, nor for punctuation, made otherwise simple sentences difficult to follow. Every sentence sounded like she was reading it aloud for the very first time, and made me long for the printed page. I strongly suggest re-recording this with a more fluent reader.