The Whiskey Rebels

David Liss

This is my third review of a David Liss novel, my most recent literary enthusiasm. The title might lead you to think that this historical novel is about the 1794 western Pennsylvania insurrection, put down by George Washington with troops provided by Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In fact the action predates that rebellion by two years, although the whiskey tax, imposed by congress to raise funds for Alexander Hamilton's efforts to pay off the debt incurred during the revolution and finance the Bank of the United States, plays a big part in the story.

It was an undue burden on the farmers of the west, which means Pittsburgh in 1792, to pay a tax in cash on the production of whiskey. These farmers could not get their grain to market, due to a lack of roads to the east and the closure of the Mississippi river to American commerce by Spain. They made whiskey instead and bartered that whiskey for the necessities of life. Lack of access to markets also created a shortage of hard money, so whiskey became the currency of the west. Thus the farmers had no money to pay the tax.

Liss likes to use the financial sector of a society in his historical novels. In this case it is Hamilton's bank, the speculation in banking stocks and the panic of 1792 that he uses to create a plot,written like a crime novel, with lots of twists and mysteries. He writes the book from two points of view. One is a disgraced former spy, now a drunkard living in Philadelphia, who takes on the challenge of finding his ex-fiance's missing husband. The other is a woman who moved to the west with her revolutionary war veteran husband to homestead on land offered in exchange for his bounty warrant, promised by Congress but not delivered.

The action brings the two together in Philadelphia and New York working together, or perhaps against each other, as William Duer attempts to take over the Bank of the United States and causes a general economic collapse. Historical characters, like Duer and Hamilton and real events, particularly Duer's catastrophic attempt on the bank, are used in subtle ways, to move the plot forward to it's surprising conclusion. He weaves in the whiskey tax, the unmet promises to war veterans and the greed of speculators with their undue influence on the government. The Whiskey Rebels could be read as a metaphor for our current economic situation.

Liss is able to make banking and stock manipulation exiting, to mix historical fact with fantastic invention seamlessly. Chances are good that more of his novels will appear on this blog soon.

 

This post is in the 84th



Published at One Book Per Week.

The Coffee Trader

David Liss

With twists and turns of real or imagined conspiracy to rival a Thomas Pynchon novel and with meticulously researched historical detail, David Liss' second novel, set in Amsterdam in 1659. It involves one Miguel Lienzo, a Portuguese Jew who trades at the new Amsterdam Exchange, the worlds first commodities futures market. Presumably, the young Lienzo is the same person as Benjamin Weaver's uncle Miguel who appears as an elderly man in early 18th century London in Liss' first novel, A Conspiracy of Paper.

Readers who come to The Coffee Trader after reading that first novel may view it as a kind of prequil, although one could read them in chronological order (Coffee Trader first) or in the order in which they were written with no harm done. Much more is learned about the Portuguese Jews in exile during that historical era and the full dimensions of the split between Miguel and David Lienzo, hinted at in A Conspiracy of Paper are brought to light.

It is very hard to write about a book that is so plot driven and so dependent on surprising twists and turns in it's plot without spoiling things for future readers, but I am trying. Without revealing too much then: Miguel Lienzo has gotten himself into debt through some trades on borrowed money, that went bad on him. He is introduced to coffee, a new commodity brought to Europe from the east recently and is convinced he can repair his fortunes by making a masterful trade in coffee, which will soon be for sale on every street corner in a chain of Starbucks shops. (not really) The ramifications of trading in the future price of a commodity and the scheming that goes on behind the scenes by rival traders, a cute Dutch serving girl, and the complications of life for a Jew exiled in a foreign land lead to a lot of unexpected adventures.

Liss has written five, or is it six, or perhaps even seven novels and, surprise! a slew of comic books for Marvel comics. Most of the novels appear to be historical fiction, including one about the whiskey rebellion. I may become somewhat of a boor while read and review all the David Liss writing I can get my paws on.

This post is in the 82nd



Published at Mel's Mouthful on Mothering.

Pompeii and Imperium

Two books by Robert Harris

Robert Harris is an English gentleman, which, of course means that he is fascinated with ancient Rome. In preparation for reading his newest book Conspirata I checked out his first two Roman novels, Pompeii and Imperium. Harris has also written an alternate history novel, Fatherland, some thrillers and some books of real, non fiction, history.
Pompeii, not surprisingly, has to do with the eruption of Vesuvius and the destruction of the city of Pompeii. Harris peoples his book with both fictional and historical characters. His protagonist, Marcus Attilius Primus is a hydraulic engineer, or an "Aquarius" as he is titled. He has an adventure suitable for Indiana Jones in the process of repairing the Aqua Augusta, the aqueduct which waters Pompeii, Neapolis and other towns in the area. In the process he uncovers corruption in the local government, not to mention a murder, learns that Vesuvius is about to erupt,and finds a love interest in the daughter of the ex-slave who serves as the villain. Pliny the Elder who was Naval commander in the area at the time figures prominently in the book. His nephew, Pliny the Younger makes a cameo appearance, as a callow youth and the Emperor Vespasian plays a part off stage.

Imperium is the first volume in a proposed trilogy on the life of Cicero. (The new book Conspirata is the second) Imperium is a John Grisham like courtroom drama, featuring Cicero as the up and coming young lawyer who beats the more experienced and wily older man in an important case. It is also a historical novel that attempts to document the early career of this important Roman statesman. The story is narrated by Cicero's slave and secretary, Tiro, a real person, who is believed to have actually written a biography of the great man, which has been lost. Other real people, including Julius Caesar, and the famous generals Pompey and Crassus play roles in this novel.

I found subtle references to the controversy over climate change in Pompeii and even more subtle comments of the invasion of Iraq in Imperium. Harris uses the Roman Empire as a mirror to hold up against contemporary society. He does it in a way that the reader doesn't have to notice if one does not want to. For the record, Pliny the Elder is a climate change skeptic.