Eric Flint was many things. A novelist. A digital pioneer. An activist for the Socialist Workers Party. All these traits make themselves known in the book 1632, which fans of alternate history might characterize as “ASB”1 and “ISOT.”2 The premise is fantastical — a small town in West Virginia is sent back in time to rural Thuringia, amidst the violence of the Thirty Years’ War — one of the most gruesome conflicts to devastate the European continent. And not to put too fine a point upon it, 1632 is kinda awesome.
I don’t know if this is the right moment to interrupt this book review with a reference to another one, but I’m going to do it anyways.
John Ringo is a novelist. He has written many novels. But perhaps most infamous among them are his Paladin of Shadows series. The books, by Ringo’s own account, were simply him running wild writing the most over-the-top nonsense he could, just for fun — then he got talked into actually publishing it, and hey presto, people bought them. According to Ringo himself, the success of those books amused and baffled him — people really liked reading about a violent, misogynistic asshole. The protagonist is no hero; he’s a barely-functional mess who enjoys violence, sex, and being the protagonist.3 It was these series of books which spawned a book review famous for being punctuated with the immortal phrase: OH JOHN RINGO NO.
But the review isn’t all negative. There is a section which remarks favorably (relatively speaking) of a section where the protagonist becomes sort of feudal overlord to a peasant community / microstate (?) — and yes, there’s a lot of the usual gross OH JOHN RINGO NO kind of thing, but the fact that he was building something was, admittedly, quite appealing. Yes, he was building a personal fiefdom in the Caucasus, but the theme in general is a popular and enduring one. (A far better example: The Martian by Andy Weir, where a guy builds stuff to not die on Mars.)
Eric Flint was not like John Ringo (despite them publishing in similar circles). Part of that might’ve been due to Flint being significantly further to the left, politically, than Ringo. But that sense of building things — particularly in the context of nationbuilding, of creating a new society — is a striking parallel between their works, and I’d wager is a large party of why 1632 is so much fun.
I’m not going to spend too much time on the plot of 1632. I mean, as far as summaries go, it’s pretty hard to outdo “Americans are sent back in time to 1630s Germany, proceed to kick ass.”
It’s not like 1632 is high literature, anyways. It’s a mindless romp; any literary value is purely incidental. It’s got a nice historical backdrop to it all, at least. It heavily features Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, who is very much presented as a heroic character — something which I, for personal reasons, greatly appreciated. Maybe the book bends the truth a little, but what the hell. There’s worse ways for you to learn European history.
The characters? Nice folks. Dialogue’s a little clunky sometimes, but that’s fine. I mean, by and large these are good ol’ boys from West Virginia — circa the year 2000, mind you, before that state had completely fallen apart at the seams. Today, West Virginia is…well, it’s not doing too great, and while it’s never been a halcyon paradise, the opioid crisis and the worst kind of politics have torn the heart out of West Virginia. 1632 is set just before that time, in a town staring down the barrel of the gun — there’s references to young folks moving away, the mines closing down, the big employers abandoning the place — but there’s still some level of hope. Also, most of the characters are dues-paying members of the UMWA. (Eric Flint very much approved of unions.) There are a few xenophobic assholes in town, but they are very quickly marginalized — the main characters are not of that number — most people, it turns out, are smart enough to realize that it’s better to welcome your new neighbors with open arms if you’re going to survive a continent-spanning war.
Also, when facing off against powerful (17th-century) armies, it helps a lot if you have access to modern firepower. And this is a West Virginia town. Of course they’ve got lots and lots of guns.
1632 was fun. Kinda corny now and then, perhaps. Still, a book where time-travelers rebuild the United States (hopefully minus the bad stuff) in a war-torn past? It’s not like any of Europe’s contemporary polities were doing any better. And every now and then there’s a cute moment to keep things moving. (There are two parallel romance subplots.) Also, one always-funny bit is how Dr. James Nichols — one of the main characters, a modern doctor who happens to be black — is greatly respected, even venerated, by the people he meets in 1632. I mean, he’s a respected person in our time, but in the past? Obviously he’s a tremendously skilled physician; everybody knows that Moorish doctors are the best kind! Et cetera. Just because there’s a war on doesn’t mean we can’t have fun.
The sequels are more of a mixed bag, in my opinion, or at least they’re inconsistent. Flint, to his credit, had a very collaborative approach to writing, inviting a whole host of fellow authors to contribute bits, even publishing fan works of a certain quality. The immediate sequel, 1633, was co-written with David Weber. After that, things fragment pretty quickly as the various characters end up in adventures all over Europe (and beyond). Not saying that it’s bad, but it does get super confusing.
So, I dunno, maybe give 1632 a chance if you’re into alternate history, or history, or Americans kicking ass. Or if you like labor unions. Or guns. I don’t know what people are into these days.
Alien Space Bats — sometimes used sarcastically to describe unrealistic events, but more typically used to describe alternate history settings where the premise depends on magic, or advanced technology, being used to change the past.
Island in the Sea of Time — named after the S. M. Stirling novel, describing any setting where a territory or group of people is sent backwards in time.
In the first book, he apparently kills and decapitates Osama bin Laden, who IRL was still alive at the time.