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Overview
AMERICAN FREEDOM AND JUSTICE VS. SEVENTEENTH CENTURY TYRANNY
The new Confederate Principalities of Europe-an alliance between Gustavus, King of Sweden, and the West Virginia town, led by Mike Stearns, which was hurled back through time to the Thirty Years War-has big problems. As the greatest naval war in European history erupts, Cardinal Richelieu has created an alliance to destroy the CPE, and only American technology can save Gustavus from ruin.
Meanwhile Mike's wife Rebecca is trapped in war-torn Amsterdam, and his sister Rita is imprisoned in the Tower of London. And much as Mike wants to reform tyrannical 17th century Europe by Sweet Reason, he finds comfort in the fact that Julie, who trained as an Olympic marksman, still has her rifle…
Synopsis
AMERICAN FREEDOM AND JUSTICE VS. SEVENTEENTH CENTURY TYRANNY
The new Confederate Principalities of Europe-an alliance between Gustavus, King of Sweden, and the West Virginia town, led by Mike Stearns, which was hurled back through time to the Thirty Years War-has big problems. As the greatest naval war in European history erupts, Cardinal Richelieu has created an alliance to destroy the CPE, and only American technology can save Gustavus from ruin.
Meanwhile Mike's wife Rebecca is trapped in war-torn Amsterdam, and his sister Rita is imprisoned in the Tower of London. And much as Mike wants to reform tyrannical 17th century Europe by Sweet Reason, he finds comfort in the fact that Julie, who trained as an Olympic marksman, still has her rifle
Publishers Weekly
In this worthy sequel to the well-received 1632 (2000), about a small West Virginia coal-mining town transported back in time to the Germany of the Thirty Years War, original author Flint and coauthor Weber resist the temptation to use modern technology to impose a Pax Americana, instead allowing their transportees just enough high tech to prevail if they can win allies like Sweden's King Gustavus Adolphus. Most of the current book deals with coalition building, as the visitors from the future attempt to remake their new world into one safe for democracy despite opposition from such as Cardinal Richelieu. History books from a now-hypothetical future and antibiotics prove to be more potent than their limited supply of modern firearms, but the most powerful weapons of the new "United States" are its ideas, which now infect the millions of Germans ground under the heels of their princes. Ordinary Germans develop a new faith in themselves and their future when the Americans show them that they can do anything, even fly. Flint, a former union organizer, is particularly skilled at showing how the new converts can make even the "old Americans" uncomfortable in their zeal to achieve the blessings of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," while Weber helps smooth out characters who were stereotypes in the first book. This is a thoughtful and exciting look at just how powerful are the ideals we sometimes take for granted, and is highly recommended as a reminder of how we can look to others when at our best. (Aug.) FYI: Weber is also the coauthor with Steve White of The Shiva Option (Forecasts, Jan. 28), while Flint is also the coauthor with David Drake of The Tyrant (Forecasts, Mar. 25). Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
In this worthy sequel to the well-received 1632 (2000), about a small West Virginia coal-mining town transported back in time to the Germany of the Thirty Years War, original author Flint and coauthor Weber resist the temptation to use modern technology to impose a Pax Americana, instead allowing their transportees just enough high tech to prevail if they can win allies like Sweden's King Gustavus Adolphus. Most of the current book deals with coalition building, as the visitors from the future attempt to remake their new world into one safe for democracy despite opposition from such as Cardinal Richelieu. History books from a now-hypothetical future and antibiotics prove to be more potent than their limited supply of modern firearms, but the most powerful weapons of the new "United States" are its ideas, which now infect the millions of Germans ground under the heels of their princes. Ordinary Germans develop a new faith in themselves and their future when the Americans show them that they can do anything, even fly. Flint, a former union organizer, is particularly skilled at showing how the new converts can make even the "old Americans" uncomfortable in their zeal to achieve the blessings of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," while Weber helps smooth out characters who were stereotypes in the first book. This is a thoughtful and exciting look at just how powerful are the ideals we sometimes take for granted, and is highly recommended as a reminder of how we can look to others when at our best. (Aug.) FYI: Weber is also the coauthor with Steve White of The Shiva Option (Forecasts, Jan. 28), while Flint is also the coauthor with David Drake of The Tyrant (Forecasts, Mar. 25). Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.VOYA
Weber and Flint coauthor the sequel to 1632 (Baen, 2000/VOYA August 2000), Flint's thought-provoking alternate universe novel about a twenty-first-century West Virginia town transported by a passing alien ship to war-torn seventeenth-century Germany where the local United Mine Workers union allies with Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus to end the Thirty Years' War and unite the German principalities. The immediate popularity of 1632 inspired Internet discussion groups, e-books of fan stories set in the new universe, and a projected series. Flint's attention to detail is meticulous; the books are well-researched, and the plots well-conceived. The series theme has become, rather than the effect of technology, the consequence of American values upon oppressed people worn down by war and the demands of tyrannical overlords. Mike Stearns, local UMWA chapter president and now President of the Confederated Principalities of Europe; other Grantsville residents new and old; and Gustavus Adolphus and his Garbo-like daughter, Christina, represent all those affected by the cosmic accident. Mike, a natural politician, is an American patriot; his core values become the heart of the new reform movement. When the new air force of two biplanes powered by VW engines along with three twenty-first-century speedboats is called upon to protect the new CPE capital and its ironclad-building shipyards from a Danish fleet, the reader appreciates, with heart-rending effect, how much American values are embraced by the formerly downtrodden Germans, now equal citizens of the CPE. 1633 is an action-packed novel, with a fast-moving plot that both involves the reader and provokes lots of thought. It is recommended forevery high school library, and if the library does not have the first book, it should. VOYA Codes 4Q 4P S A/YA (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult-marketed book recommended for Young Adults). 2003, Baen, 673p., pb. Ages 15 to Adult.—Marsha Valance