Status
Available
Collection
Publication
Mulholland Books (2017), Edition: Reprint, 336 pages
Description
"It is the present-day, and the world is as we know it: smartphones, social networking and Happy Meals. Save for one thing: the Civil War never occurred. A gifted young Black man calling himself Victor has struck a bargain with federal law enforcement, working as a bounty hunter for the US Marshall Service. He's got plenty of work. In this version of America, slavery continues in four states called "the Hard Four." On the trail of a runaway known as Jackdaw, Victor arrives in Indianapolis knowing that something isn't right--with the case file, with his work, and with the country itself. A mystery to himself, Victor suppresses his memories of his childhood on a plantation, and works to infiltrate the local cell of a abolitionist movement called the Underground Airlines. Tracking Jackdaw through the back rooms of churches, empty parking garages, hotels, and medical offices, Victor believes he's hot on the trail. But his strange, increasingly uncanny pursuit is complicated by a boss who won't reveal the extraodinary stakes of Jackdaw's case, as well as by a heartbreaking young woman and her child who may be Victor's salvation. Victor himself may be the biggest obstacle of all--though his true self remains buried, it threatens to surface. Victor believes himself to be a good man doing bad work, unwilling to give up the freedom he has worked so hard to earn. But in pursuing Jackdaw, Victor discovers secrets at the core of the country's arrangement with the Hard Four, secrets the government will preserve at any cost. Underground Airlines is a ground-breaking novel, a wickedly imaginative thriller, and a story of an America that is more like our own than we'd like to believe"--… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member msf59
America in the present day: smartphones, Facebook and chalupas. One thing is different and it's a whopper-
the civil war never happened. Four states, in the deep south, still practice slavery. The Hard Four.
Victor is a smart, young black man. He works for the US Marshal service, a modern day bounty
This is fine alt/history. Well-written, intense and thought-provoking. With the fiery and unstable racial issues, happening in our country, at the moment, this novel really resonates.
I really liked the author's The Last Policeman trilogy, but he really stepped up his game on this one.
the civil war never happened. Four states, in the deep south, still practice slavery. The Hard Four.
Victor is a smart, young black man. He works for the US Marshal service, a modern day bounty
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hunter, tracking down fugitive slaves. He is tasked to track down a rebellious slave named Jackdaw. He is exceptional at his job but Jackdaw, causes Victor to take a hard look at himself and question his own mysterious past. It also propels him into a conspiracy that places him firmly in the cross-hairs, of his own government and the Hard Four.This is fine alt/history. Well-written, intense and thought-provoking. With the fiery and unstable racial issues, happening in our country, at the moment, this novel really resonates.
I really liked the author's The Last Policeman trilogy, but he really stepped up his game on this one.
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LibraryThing member rosalita
In Ben Winters' 19th century America, the Civil War never happens. On the brink of that cataclysmic event that tore a nation in two over the issue of slavery, a president is assassinated and the North blinks. Instead of war, the two sides hammer out a compromise that allows slavery to continue in
In Ben Winters' 21st century America, only four states still permit slavery: the Hard Four of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Carolina (the previous North and South having come together as one entity). Everywhere else, slavery is outlawed and the importation of goods made with slave labor is forbidden. Thus smokers are forced to resort to Pakistani cigarettes and consumers can only purchase goods that are either made in the North or imported from countries that don't subscribe to the international treaty forbidding trade with the United States as long as slavery is legal anywhere within its borders. It's all part of the so-called Clean Hands Initiative, in which northern states make a show of not trafficking in products made by Persons Bound to Labor, or PBs for short. But the squeamishness does not extend to protecting slaves who manage to escape the Hard Four, as Fugitive Slave Laws still require any northern law enforcement officer to capture and return escaped slaves to their owners. When local police are unwilling to do so, the U.S. Marshals step in, and that's where Jim Dirkson comes in. He's a black man working undercover for the Marshal Service. He uses his race and his knowledge of how the network of smugglers who help escapees get to Canada works to find escaped PBs and capture them for return to slavery. The dichotomy between who he really is and what he does haunts him:
I was a monster, but way down underneath I was good. Wasn't I? Wasn't I good? Didn't I have some good part of me, buried deep undergrounds, beneath Jim Dirkson and Kenny Morton and Albie the gardener and whoever and whatever else I was? I was good below it. I was, and I am. Good underground. In the buried parts of me are good things.
Jim soon finds himself forced to choose between his handlers at the U.S. Marshals Service (who literally hold his life in their hands if he fails to do what he is told) and his growing belief that the escaped slave he is seeking, Jackdaw, should be allowed to go free. There is plenty of action in this book but much of the tension is set between Jim's ears, as his conscience wars with his survival instincts.
Alternative histories, when they are well-written as this one is, are fascinating. Winters retains many of the historical figures and events that we know with subtle alterations to account for slavery's ongoing existence. James Brown, Godfather of Soul, lives in Winters' America, where was born into slavery and defects while on a carefully supervised concert tour in the North and ends up in Canada (reminiscent of the way Soviet or Cuban dissidents used to defect). At first I found the numerous similarities somewhat offputting, but I realized that Winters was making a statement about the realities of life as an African-American in the land of the free. They may not be literal slaves but they certainly don't participate equally in the vaunted equality that we Americans like to pat ourselves on the back for. The black citizens in the supposedly slave-free north of Winters' America are still subject to serious racism, discrimination and lack of economic opportunity, even as they live as freedmen and -women.
There's a serious message in these pages, but there's also a find action thriller plot as well. I suspect readers looking for either will find much to like in this novel.
One last quote. Jim has infiltrated a plantation in Alabama in search of information. His cover story is as the personal slave of a white woman, which will allow him to eventually return to the free North, while all the Persons Bound to Labor that surround him here will never leave this place alive.
What do you do with that fact? Do you hold it like a stone in your hand? Pitch it away from this great height and watch it fall? Do you swallow it and feel it in your throat till the day you die?
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the states where it already exists and forbids it everywhere else. The compromise is written into the nation's Constitution as a series of amendments, of which the 18th is particularly devastating: it makes it illegal for any law to ever be passed to outlaw slavery in the states that choose to practice it.In Ben Winters' 21st century America, only four states still permit slavery: the Hard Four of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Carolina (the previous North and South having come together as one entity). Everywhere else, slavery is outlawed and the importation of goods made with slave labor is forbidden. Thus smokers are forced to resort to Pakistani cigarettes and consumers can only purchase goods that are either made in the North or imported from countries that don't subscribe to the international treaty forbidding trade with the United States as long as slavery is legal anywhere within its borders. It's all part of the so-called Clean Hands Initiative, in which northern states make a show of not trafficking in products made by Persons Bound to Labor, or PBs for short. But the squeamishness does not extend to protecting slaves who manage to escape the Hard Four, as Fugitive Slave Laws still require any northern law enforcement officer to capture and return escaped slaves to their owners. When local police are unwilling to do so, the U.S. Marshals step in, and that's where Jim Dirkson comes in. He's a black man working undercover for the Marshal Service. He uses his race and his knowledge of how the network of smugglers who help escapees get to Canada works to find escaped PBs and capture them for return to slavery. The dichotomy between who he really is and what he does haunts him:
I was a monster, but way down underneath I was good. Wasn't I? Wasn't I good? Didn't I have some good part of me, buried deep undergrounds, beneath Jim Dirkson and Kenny Morton and Albie the gardener and whoever and whatever else I was? I was good below it. I was, and I am. Good underground. In the buried parts of me are good things.
Jim soon finds himself forced to choose between his handlers at the U.S. Marshals Service (who literally hold his life in their hands if he fails to do what he is told) and his growing belief that the escaped slave he is seeking, Jackdaw, should be allowed to go free. There is plenty of action in this book but much of the tension is set between Jim's ears, as his conscience wars with his survival instincts.
Alternative histories, when they are well-written as this one is, are fascinating. Winters retains many of the historical figures and events that we know with subtle alterations to account for slavery's ongoing existence. James Brown, Godfather of Soul, lives in Winters' America, where was born into slavery and defects while on a carefully supervised concert tour in the North and ends up in Canada (reminiscent of the way Soviet or Cuban dissidents used to defect). At first I found the numerous similarities somewhat offputting, but I realized that Winters was making a statement about the realities of life as an African-American in the land of the free. They may not be literal slaves but they certainly don't participate equally in the vaunted equality that we Americans like to pat ourselves on the back for. The black citizens in the supposedly slave-free north of Winters' America are still subject to serious racism, discrimination and lack of economic opportunity, even as they live as freedmen and -women.
There's a serious message in these pages, but there's also a find action thriller plot as well. I suspect readers looking for either will find much to like in this novel.
One last quote. Jim has infiltrated a plantation in Alabama in search of information. His cover story is as the personal slave of a white woman, which will allow him to eventually return to the free North, while all the Persons Bound to Labor that surround him here will never leave this place alive.
What do you do with that fact? Do you hold it like a stone in your hand? Pitch it away from this great height and watch it fall? Do you swallow it and feel it in your throat till the day you die?
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LibraryThing member Meredy
Six-word review: Hunting escaped slaves in alternate U.S.
Extended review:
This was my first exposure to the work of Ben H. Winters. I'd call it a winner. As soon as I finished it, I put the first of his "Last Policeman" trilogy on request at the library.
Underground Airlines posits a
Making his story both compelling and psychologically complex is the fact that he himself is a black man and former PBL. He understands the mind of his prey: "What the slave wants but can never have is not only freedom from the chains but also from their memory." Pragmatic necessity never stops warring with guilt and self-loathing in this man who has taught himself ruthlessness as the price of survival; and yet some remnant of human feeling holds out the possibility of redemption: "I was a monster, but way down underneath I was good.... Good underground. In the buried parts of me are good things."
At the halfway point I wrote this in my notes: "Deliciously unreliable narrator who deceives for a living and who may or may not be deceiving us--and why is he writing this?--and yet seems to have an uncompromisingly truthful core, and what seems to me--but what do I know?--a keenly subtle sensitivity to the racism embedded in our society--even in those who believe they are free of it, challenging us to recognize and acknowledge our own."
Despite a few plot holes that I found irksome, this book delivered a strong and moving sense of vicarious experience and an undeniable call to take our own moral inventory.
Extended review:
This was my first exposure to the work of Ben H. Winters. I'd call it a winner. As soon as I finished it, I put the first of his "Last Policeman" trilogy on request at the library.
Underground Airlines posits a
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twenty-first-century United States in which the Civil War was never fought and slavery persists in four states. The main character, for reasons deeply rooted in the tragedy of his personal history, is a bounty hunter whose job is to track down slaves (PBLs--Persons Bound to Labor) who have made it to a free state and finger them for capture.Making his story both compelling and psychologically complex is the fact that he himself is a black man and former PBL. He understands the mind of his prey: "What the slave wants but can never have is not only freedom from the chains but also from their memory." Pragmatic necessity never stops warring with guilt and self-loathing in this man who has taught himself ruthlessness as the price of survival; and yet some remnant of human feeling holds out the possibility of redemption: "I was a monster, but way down underneath I was good.... Good underground. In the buried parts of me are good things."
At the halfway point I wrote this in my notes: "Deliciously unreliable narrator who deceives for a living and who may or may not be deceiving us--and why is he writing this?--and yet seems to have an uncompromisingly truthful core, and what seems to me--but what do I know?--a keenly subtle sensitivity to the racism embedded in our society--even in those who believe they are free of it, challenging us to recognize and acknowledge our own."
Despite a few plot holes that I found irksome, this book delivered a strong and moving sense of vicarious experience and an undeniable call to take our own moral inventory.
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LibraryThing member sturlington
I highly enjoyed and appreciated this gripping book on three levels.
First, it presents a fascinating what-if scenario. In this alternate America, instead of having a civil war, the states came to a compromise that essentially made slavery constitutional into perpetuity. In the present day, slavery
Layered on top of this is a highly suspenseful, well-plotted crime story. The combination of tropes from two such disparate genres infuses both with a new energy. Winters has done this before, in his excellent Last Policeman trilogy, but he's upped his game here. The nameless narrator, once a slave, is now an undercover detective for the US Marshals who tracks fugitive slaves himself, with a hard-boiled sensibility but a nuanced character that gradually reveals itself.
All of this would be enough to make Underground Airlines a terrific read, but Winters has deftly woven piercing social commentary into his alternate history. This vision of America, in which people passionately condone the enslavement of black human beings, is so different from and yet so much like our own society that it forces the reader to re-examine all the assumptions that lie at the bottom of race relations in the United States today. Without preaching or lecturing, Winters makes us question how we view race as it affects poverty, education, incarceration, pretty much everything.
This book enthralled me on all levels. I so hope there will be a sequel, because I would definitely read it.
First, it presents a fascinating what-if scenario. In this alternate America, instead of having a civil war, the states came to a compromise that essentially made slavery constitutional into perpetuity. In the present day, slavery
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continues to be legal in four states--the "hard four," as they are called--making the United States a political and trade pariah in the world. This hard-to-fathom reality of present-day legal slavery shades every plot point, character motivation, and line of dialogue, presenting a mind-warping vision of America.Layered on top of this is a highly suspenseful, well-plotted crime story. The combination of tropes from two such disparate genres infuses both with a new energy. Winters has done this before, in his excellent Last Policeman trilogy, but he's upped his game here. The nameless narrator, once a slave, is now an undercover detective for the US Marshals who tracks fugitive slaves himself, with a hard-boiled sensibility but a nuanced character that gradually reveals itself.
All of this would be enough to make Underground Airlines a terrific read, but Winters has deftly woven piercing social commentary into his alternate history. This vision of America, in which people passionately condone the enslavement of black human beings, is so different from and yet so much like our own society that it forces the reader to re-examine all the assumptions that lie at the bottom of race relations in the United States today. Without preaching or lecturing, Winters makes us question how we view race as it affects poverty, education, incarceration, pretty much everything.
This book enthralled me on all levels. I so hope there will be a sequel, because I would definitely read it.
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LibraryThing member UnderMyAppleTree
What if Abraham Lincoln was assassinated before he had a chance to serve as president? What if the Civil War never happened? What would the present day United States be like?
In Underground Airlines, the author has created an alternate history detective story told through the eyes of a former slave,
To keep his freedom, Victor had to agree to work as bounty hunter for the US Marshalls and track down runaways. We see that he is good at his job as he almost effortlessly picks up the trail of a runaway slave hiding in the Midwest. But Victor is a conflicted character — he knows what he is doing is wrong, and this case is particularly troubling: Something is not right, documents are missing from the file, and things are not what they appear to be.
I enjoyed this fast-paced thriller set in a believable world with a thought-provoking ending. Will there be a sequel? I hope so; there is plenty of material for another story in this well-developed alternate world.
Audio production:
I listened to part of this novel which was expertly narrated by William DeMeritt. Through his voice we can feel the conflict, and often despair, that Victor feels. Both audio and print versions were equally compelling.
In Underground Airlines, the author has created an alternate history detective story told through the eyes of a former slave,
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Victor. In Victor’s world, four states still allow slavery, and according to the constitution it can never be abolished.To keep his freedom, Victor had to agree to work as bounty hunter for the US Marshalls and track down runaways. We see that he is good at his job as he almost effortlessly picks up the trail of a runaway slave hiding in the Midwest. But Victor is a conflicted character — he knows what he is doing is wrong, and this case is particularly troubling: Something is not right, documents are missing from the file, and things are not what they appear to be.
I enjoyed this fast-paced thriller set in a believable world with a thought-provoking ending. Will there be a sequel? I hope so; there is plenty of material for another story in this well-developed alternate world.
Audio production:
I listened to part of this novel which was expertly narrated by William DeMeritt. Through his voice we can feel the conflict, and often despair, that Victor feels. Both audio and print versions were equally compelling.
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LibraryThing member jmchshannon
Any discussion of Underground Airlines requires addressing the controversy about the book and the author. Granted, I had no idea there was any controversy about either while I was reading it. However, I will say that I did not only recognize Mr. Winters’ racial status while reading, but I did
This does not diminish the actual subject matter though. Regardless of how I feel about the book in general, the idea that slavery can still exist, and does in some parts of the world, is an extremely important topic. The discussion about current race relations, especially in the United States, needs to happen no matter who authors the story. Mr. Winters does this with his story, in which he raises even greater awareness of racial discrimination and creates a world that is far too close to our current situation today.
For that reason, while I may not have thoroughly enjoyed the story as much as I had hoped, I recognize it as an extremely important and timely work that forces people to rethink race relations in the United States and recognize the dangerous path on which we as a society currently appear to be traveling. While the story could be stronger and the characters could be more developed, the message and the warning implied within that message does not change. In the end, Underground Airlines remains a chilling reminder that persons of color continue to struggle to find justice and fair representation within our society and the definitions of good and bad are different depending on the color of your skin.
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question his willingness to write such a book and have a POC narrator. Given that I was relatively unimpressed with Victor and felt little in the way of empathy towards him, I am not convinced that Mr. Winters was the best author for the type of book it is. I did not feel Victor’s emotional trauma. I did not experience any of the fear that being a person of color living in a white man’s world should bring. I never felt that sense of unease or even of tension as Victor works to pursue Jackdaw. I did not even feel any horror at the ongoing slavery and the secrets uncovered during his investigation. In other words, there was almost no emotional connection between me as the reader and Victor as the narrator. Is this the fault of the writer or the reader? Would I have felt differently had someone else written it who had experienced similar terror just because of the color of his or her skin? I am inclined to say that it is the writer and that I would have felt differently had an author of color written the novel because only someone who has had similar experiences can adequately explain what it feels like to be in those situations. The rest of us can try but will never quite reach a true understanding, although a decent author who has been in that type of situation can create empathetic characters and close the understanding gap. Mr. Winters is a good author; his life experiences are just too different from Victor to be able to create that link.This does not diminish the actual subject matter though. Regardless of how I feel about the book in general, the idea that slavery can still exist, and does in some parts of the world, is an extremely important topic. The discussion about current race relations, especially in the United States, needs to happen no matter who authors the story. Mr. Winters does this with his story, in which he raises even greater awareness of racial discrimination and creates a world that is far too close to our current situation today.
For that reason, while I may not have thoroughly enjoyed the story as much as I had hoped, I recognize it as an extremely important and timely work that forces people to rethink race relations in the United States and recognize the dangerous path on which we as a society currently appear to be traveling. While the story could be stronger and the characters could be more developed, the message and the warning implied within that message does not change. In the end, Underground Airlines remains a chilling reminder that persons of color continue to struggle to find justice and fair representation within our society and the definitions of good and bad are different depending on the color of your skin.
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LibraryThing member JBD1
Ben Winters' "The Last Policeman" trilogy was good, but he takes it to the next level with Underground Airlines. Set in an alternate America where the Civil War never happened and slave culture clings on in four southern states, Winters' tale is chock full of slightly-twisted historical threads -
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like any good counterfactual, it explores what might easily have been had things gone just a bit differently. It's uncomfortable, chilling, heartbreaking ... and it deserves a wide audience. Show Less
LibraryThing member mwatson4281
I was so excited when I read the premise to this book but was afraid that it would not be executed well. I should not have worried because Winters managed to make this book move quickly, while building an entire past, present, and future seamlessly. I bought everything, I was intrigued, and the
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ending really tied everything together. One of my favorite reads of 2016. Show Less
LibraryThing member voracious
In a parallel universe, the United States exists much like it does today, with the exception that the Civil War never happened and slavery remains legal in four states. In this world, Victor, an ex-slave himself, is now employed by the government and required to track down escaped slaves as a
I had greatly enjoyed Ben Winters' Last Policeman series about the end of the world and so was eager to read this dystopian thriller. As a resident of Indianapolis, I particularly enjoyed the inclusion of local landmarks in the story, which added to the realism. This is a dark novel and close to home with the recent upsurge in racism related to the current 2016 election. Overall, I enjoyed the suspense and dystopian storyline. However, the novel is pretty depressing, as it permits the reader to see just how close American society walks the line to permitting horrific things to happen to individuals who are considered expendable, for the sake of convenience or cheaper material goods. More specifically, it is a dark glimpse into what would happen if racism and slavery were once again considered viable economic options.
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bounty hunter. With each assignment, Victor takes on a new identity, adapting to the situation to bring the slave back into custody. In this society, however, modern slavery has become more regulated and tied to the international economy. In addition, slaves are tracked using GPS and current technology, severely limiting opportunities for slaves to escape their circumstances, even though sympathizers in the modern world abound. The story takes place in Indianapolis, where Victor tracks an escaped slave, who was routed out of the south through the "Underground Airlines", an organized group of liberal sympathizers who pool resources to funnel slaves out of the country. After Victor tracks down the missing slave, he stumbles into a more complicated situation, which could give him a chance to attain freedom for himself or alternately, for all of the slaves. As he heads back to the south, placing himself in great personal jeopardy, Victor finds himself once again trapped in the dark world of slavery, only this time, he may not escape again.I had greatly enjoyed Ben Winters' Last Policeman series about the end of the world and so was eager to read this dystopian thriller. As a resident of Indianapolis, I particularly enjoyed the inclusion of local landmarks in the story, which added to the realism. This is a dark novel and close to home with the recent upsurge in racism related to the current 2016 election. Overall, I enjoyed the suspense and dystopian storyline. However, the novel is pretty depressing, as it permits the reader to see just how close American society walks the line to permitting horrific things to happen to individuals who are considered expendable, for the sake of convenience or cheaper material goods. More specifically, it is a dark glimpse into what would happen if racism and slavery were once again considered viable economic options.
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LibraryThing member elenchus
The central fact of Underground Airlines is that Winters describes the present moment in an imagined U.S., and that moment matches ours in almost all particulars, except in arriving from a different past. It is perhaps tempting to argue that is a worse, more horrific history than ours, so Winters
The story's center of gravity, then, is that alternate history and the global stage built upon it. What's fascinating is how familiar are the dynamics in that world compared with our own, both interpersonal and group interactions, even the realpolitik of nation states, despite the dramatic yet arguably superficial differences. This is the primary achievement here, what attracted me to the book and continues to attract me even after I've turned the final page. The story is quite good, the characters and narration also well done, amusing and observant, and Winters' prose is itself a pleasure to read as it rolls by. The genre tropes I find fun: the hardboiled protagonist, the first person narration as familiar as the shamus (I enjoy the absurdity of asking: "To whom is he speaking? What's his angle, that he's so confessional?"), the plot playing Virgil to the reader's Dante, offering up so many absurd scenes. These are all great and reason enough to read the book. But the book will be a favourite, a personal benchmark, because of that bizarro world and my imagined place in it.
Winters's alternate America displays the same cultural touch points as ours, the same Jim Crow social controls, the same economy. The same economy. And -- the plot follows that insight down a rabbit hole that most citizens (in this alternate world, but just as certainly here, today) do not want to peer into, don't want to hear about. But -- the logic of the setup requires Victor look down that hole, and drag up whatever unpleasantries are there to be found. Look around. They're here, too.
//
The Civil War: averted. Emancipation: stillborn. The Constitutional compromise which preserves the Union guarantees slaveholding states the right in perpetuity to lawfully control Persons Bound to Labor. Four states eagerly enslave 3 million black men, women, and children: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Carolina. Other states abide it in various ways: Texas a troublesome Republic, many northern states observing a Clean Hands Initiative. Georgia, perhaps most cannily, turns non-slavery only to serve as a commercial highway between the Hard Four.
Some citizens endeavour to bring people out of slavery, one or two at a time, via the clandestine Underground Airlines. They are opposed, as mandated in Federal statute, by the U.S. Marshal Service. Fugitive Slave Laws shore up the old compromise, uphold the Constitution. Victor works for the U.S. Marshals, he is black, and he is very good at what he does. He himself was once enslaved.
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calmly and steadily shows us that it is not. Those who don't see it are perhaps like a dog, watching master's pointing finger, and those who do see it, looking where the finger points.The story's center of gravity, then, is that alternate history and the global stage built upon it. What's fascinating is how familiar are the dynamics in that world compared with our own, both interpersonal and group interactions, even the realpolitik of nation states, despite the dramatic yet arguably superficial differences. This is the primary achievement here, what attracted me to the book and continues to attract me even after I've turned the final page. The story is quite good, the characters and narration also well done, amusing and observant, and Winters' prose is itself a pleasure to read as it rolls by. The genre tropes I find fun: the hardboiled protagonist, the first person narration as familiar as the shamus (I enjoy the absurdity of asking: "To whom is he speaking? What's his angle, that he's so confessional?"), the plot playing Virgil to the reader's Dante, offering up so many absurd scenes. These are all great and reason enough to read the book. But the book will be a favourite, a personal benchmark, because of that bizarro world and my imagined place in it.
Winters's alternate America displays the same cultural touch points as ours, the same Jim Crow social controls, the same economy. The same economy. And -- the plot follows that insight down a rabbit hole that most citizens (in this alternate world, but just as certainly here, today) do not want to peer into, don't want to hear about. But -- the logic of the setup requires Victor look down that hole, and drag up whatever unpleasantries are there to be found. Look around. They're here, too.
//
The Civil War: averted. Emancipation: stillborn. The Constitutional compromise which preserves the Union guarantees slaveholding states the right in perpetuity to lawfully control Persons Bound to Labor. Four states eagerly enslave 3 million black men, women, and children: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Carolina. Other states abide it in various ways: Texas a troublesome Republic, many northern states observing a Clean Hands Initiative. Georgia, perhaps most cannily, turns non-slavery only to serve as a commercial highway between the Hard Four.
Some citizens endeavour to bring people out of slavery, one or two at a time, via the clandestine Underground Airlines. They are opposed, as mandated in Federal statute, by the U.S. Marshal Service. Fugitive Slave Laws shore up the old compromise, uphold the Constitution. Victor works for the U.S. Marshals, he is black, and he is very good at what he does. He himself was once enslaved.
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LibraryThing member gypsysmom
Covering much of the same ground as the Pulitzer Prize winning The Underground Railroad, I suspect this book will not get the same attention since it comes from a science fiction writer. I thought it was just as well written and just as disturbing.
In this alternate history version of the US,
In this alternate history version of the US,
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slavery still exists in four states: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Carolina (which is composed of what we know as the two states of North and South Carolina). Victor, a black man who escaped from a slave plantation himself, is an agent of the US Marshal's service who hunts down other escaped slaves. It was either that or be returned to slavery so he chose to look after himself. It is a hard decision to live with and the case which has brought him to Indianapolis bothers him even more than most. Jackdaw escaped from a cotton plantation a few days before and is thought to be in Indianapolis. Victor follows some leads and gets close to some of the people who are trying to smuggle Jackdaw to Canada. He also meets Martha, a white woman, and her young black son, Lionel. Martha is trying to find Lionel's father, Samson, who is a recaptured slave. When Victor has to return to one of the slave states Martha goes with him because a black person cannot travel alone there. Martha needs money for her search and Victor can provide it but their relationship becomes more than just business (as in friendship, not love). In a way they both find what they are looking for but it doesn't seem like that is all to their story. Could there be a sequel? I hope so. Show Less
LibraryThing member Olivermagnus
The author has imagined a United States in which the Civil War never occurred and four Southern states continue to support the ownership of human beings, or “Persons Bound to Labor.” Abraham Lincoln was assassinated before he had the chance to serve as president. Japanese cars are difficult to
Victor works for the U.S. Marshals, specifically for Mr. Bridge, a man he has never met but only communicates with on the phone. He tracks down runaway slaves and has already found and returned 209 escapees. He can easily go into areas where escapees might be hiding because he is black himself, and an escaped slave. Currently he's in pursuit of an escapee named Jackdaw, who was enslaved in a textile plantation in Alabama owned by a vast corporation called Garments of the Greater South, Inc.
This book is essentially a thriller, and Victor is a detective in a classic noir approach. He's damaged, extremely good at his job, and torn between following orders and doing the right thing. The story often strains credibility, but it is always fascinating. I would recommend it to anyone interested in alternative history/dystopian fiction or to anyone interested in a good thriller. I listened to the audio version, narrated by William DeMeritt, who did a fantastic job.
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obtain because Japan, like the developed nations of Europe, has imposed sanctions on the United States in order to pressure the remaining slave states, known as the Hard Four, to abolish slavery. Victor works for the U.S. Marshals, specifically for Mr. Bridge, a man he has never met but only communicates with on the phone. He tracks down runaway slaves and has already found and returned 209 escapees. He can easily go into areas where escapees might be hiding because he is black himself, and an escaped slave. Currently he's in pursuit of an escapee named Jackdaw, who was enslaved in a textile plantation in Alabama owned by a vast corporation called Garments of the Greater South, Inc.
This book is essentially a thriller, and Victor is a detective in a classic noir approach. He's damaged, extremely good at his job, and torn between following orders and doing the right thing. The story often strains credibility, but it is always fascinating. I would recommend it to anyone interested in alternative history/dystopian fiction or to anyone interested in a good thriller. I listened to the audio version, narrated by William DeMeritt, who did a fantastic job.
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LibraryThing member jjaylynny
A timely and unsettling book, with lots to say about race, slavery, and history. And at the same time, entertaining as hell. Part spy story, mystery, part deliciously told alternate history-- this is the real deal.
I enjoyed Winters' "Last Policeman" books, and didn't realize he was the same author
I enjoyed Winters' "Last Policeman" books, and didn't realize he was the same author
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til well into this novel. He has a sure way of writing rather matter-of-factly about things that would freak us the fuck out. Show Less
LibraryThing member Narshkite
No one is ever going to say this is not a high concept book. Speculative fiction is always going to be to be high-concept. I mean...what if the Civil War never happened? I would argue that the Civil War is the signal American event. Sure, the country would not exist without the Revolutionary War,
Anyway, back to concept. The non Civil War thing was pretty high-concept in and of itself, but then add to it the decision to to tell this story as if Raymond Chandler/Sam Spade was being channeled and you get from high-concept to stratospheric concept. In theory I liked how that played, but in practice it seemed pretty tortured in parts, and occasionally left me unable to empathize (sympathize, sure, but empathize...not so much) and that weakened the story as a result.
I ended up with a strong 4 for idea and story structure, and a weak 3 for execution.
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sure the World Wars created America's place in the world, but the Civil War is all about us. There is no other, no redcoats, no Axis, just straight up Americans split by the fundamental question of what value we do or do not place on human beings. So you take that and subvert it, no war, no issue of secession, just slavery. Also, there is no sanctuary, no one needed Dred Scot here (or the 14th Amendment, but we will get back to that), slavery was legal where it was legal, but property rights remained in effect, so if a person started as property they were property forever. (One bugaboo for me here, without the Civil War the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments would not exist, there would be no need. So the repetitive reference to the Amendment limiting the effect of the other Amendments bugged me.)Anyway, back to concept. The non Civil War thing was pretty high-concept in and of itself, but then add to it the decision to to tell this story as if Raymond Chandler/Sam Spade was being channeled and you get from high-concept to stratospheric concept. In theory I liked how that played, but in practice it seemed pretty tortured in parts, and occasionally left me unable to empathize (sympathize, sure, but empathize...not so much) and that weakened the story as a result.
I ended up with a strong 4 for idea and story structure, and a weak 3 for execution.
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LibraryThing member cuentosalgernon
An interesting alternate history thriller. With the background of an America in which slavery is still in existence in four states, Victor, a former black slave now working as a slave-hunter for the government, is assigned a case which turns out to be not what it seems on its surface.
I found the
I found the
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investigation and the mystery entertaining enough, especially as it is not a very long novel, but what I really enjoyed was the world-building, the description of this hypocritical society which allows this situation to go on, and how it affects the economy, politics, society… both in America and in the rest of the world. And also the frequent small alternate history details that pepper the novel and make everything completely believable and plausible. Show Less
LibraryThing member ecataldi
A controversial concept that only Ben Winters could have pulled off. So obscene and horrifying of an idea that it sucks you in instantly. What if the United States had never abolished slavery and the Civil War had never occurred? Winters does an amazing job of bringing that world to life in this
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harrowing story of a black bounty hunter whose job it is to track down escaped slaves and bring them back to the four remaining slave holding states in the South. Everything starts off as normal for "Victor" as he arrives in Indianapolis looking for his target but things quickly go off track for this bounty hunter. Something isn't right about this case, and Victor finds himself in a bad spot. This fast paced thriller will leave readers guessing as the tables keep turning. Victor likes to think of himself as one of the good guys roped into doing bad work for the government, but this case makes him rethink everything he's done. Can he really make a difference for the 3 million still enslaved? An utterly engrossing and horrifying look at how our country might have looked had their been no Civil War. Show Less
LibraryThing member indygo88
Imagine America as it is today, but with slavery still legal in four states.
Victor, a young black man, is working as a bounty hunter for the feds, tracking down escaped slaves to bring them to justice. But his current case, tracking down an escapee known as Jackdaw who has reportedly fled to
This is probably not a book I would've typically picked up on my own, had my book club not chosen it. However, I enjoyed this somewhat unique plot. It reads a lot like a thriller, and like a thriller, it has some almost unbelievable plot twists & turns, but if you can get beyond that, it's quite thought-provoking and should trigger some good discussion.
Victor, a young black man, is working as a bounty hunter for the feds, tracking down escaped slaves to bring them to justice. But his current case, tracking down an escapee known as Jackdaw who has reportedly fled to
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Indianapolis, is not like his previous cases. Something is off, and the small irregularities of the case are triggering past memories and doubts.This is probably not a book I would've typically picked up on my own, had my book club not chosen it. However, I enjoyed this somewhat unique plot. It reads a lot like a thriller, and like a thriller, it has some almost unbelievable plot twists & turns, but if you can get beyond that, it's quite thought-provoking and should trigger some good discussion.
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LibraryThing member MSWallack
I really enjoyed the premise and the execution upon that premise, but I found the last third or so of the story to be a bit of a letdown (almost as if the author got bored and felt the need to resolve things quickly). But I really hope that Winters decides to continue writing in this universe.
LibraryThing member cathyskye
I am a fan of well-written alternative history; I suppose "What if?" has always been one of my favorite questions to ask. I have read books in which the South won the American Civil War and found those good food for thought, but this is the first time I've read one in which that war never occurred
But the entire story does hinge on one thing: the main character of Victor, and Victor was not a success for me. When I first met him, I thought he was a fabulous character, and I felt sympathy for the plight of his wife. Then I learned what he really did for a living. A black man who was born a slave, won his freedom, and is now hunting people down to bring them back to slavery? It took a while for the disappointment to subside, which it did do. Winters takes us into Victor's mind, and as I learned more about him, I felt that this man was a volcano almost ready to explode.
I was primed, and I was ready for this book to take me to great places... but after the first hundred pages, it lost momentum for me. Victor lost that volcanic feeling. There were inconsistencies in the world Winters created that didn't quite make sense. There wasn't enough shown to me about life in the Hard Four. What could've been a great novel became a good one. An intriguing one. But not quite on par with Octavia Butler's Kindred.
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at all. Underground Airlines is thought-provoking, sometimes powerful, and often very uncomfortable reading. Uncomfortable because we are not as far removed from slavery as we'd like to think. The world Ben H. Winters has created is altogether too plausible.But the entire story does hinge on one thing: the main character of Victor, and Victor was not a success for me. When I first met him, I thought he was a fabulous character, and I felt sympathy for the plight of his wife. Then I learned what he really did for a living. A black man who was born a slave, won his freedom, and is now hunting people down to bring them back to slavery? It took a while for the disappointment to subside, which it did do. Winters takes us into Victor's mind, and as I learned more about him, I felt that this man was a volcano almost ready to explode.
I was primed, and I was ready for this book to take me to great places... but after the first hundred pages, it lost momentum for me. Victor lost that volcanic feeling. There were inconsistencies in the world Winters created that didn't quite make sense. There wasn't enough shown to me about life in the Hard Four. What could've been a great novel became a good one. An intriguing one. But not quite on par with Octavia Butler's Kindred.
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LibraryThing member eachurch
Engrossing, fast-paced novel set in alternative version of the US which is believable and rather frightening. Winters does a fine job of showing how economics and individuals’ desires to save their own lives can influence their choices, and, therefore, the shape of society.
LibraryThing member Dianekeenoy
First, thank you, Mark for sending me your copy of Underground Airlines! This is an excellent book about an alternative United States where there was no Civil War and there are 4 states where slavery is legal. Hard to imagine such a thing, unless you're Ben Winters. He is fast becoming one of my
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favorite writers. I read his Last Policeman trilogy one right after the other and couldn't wait for this book to come out. And, he didn't disappoint. Show Less
LibraryThing member mahsdad
Alternate Histories are where one small change that leads to a very different world, than the one we are used to. In this case the (not so) small change is that Lincoln is martyred prior to the start of the Civil War and the country comes together to find a solution to the North and South's
Fast-forward to today where modern technology and business techniques has only enhanced the efficiency of the southern garment industry and its "Persons bound to Labor" workforce. Its a world of Michael Jackson and movie stars and a US Marshall's service that is tasked with capturing escaped PB's (slaves isn't term that's used anymore). A weird dichotomy.
Victor is a former PB and bounty hunter who works for the Marshals and his latest case is to capture a fugitive somewhere in Indianapolis where the Underground Airline (yeah that might be a little too on the nose) is attempting to get him out of the country. Or are they. All is not as it seems and this thriller keeps you guessing who the actual bad guys are. Its a very interesting read and I liked being challenged in wanting to like Victor who represents and supports a society that is so different than the one we live in. As the story progresses, Victor starts to question his place in this world. Recommend.
All around me, all inside me, was a feeling of unease, of incipience. A murky sky, holding the possibility but not the promise of rain.
I bore silent witness, thinking, There is no army of abolition. This is what the world has for heroes. Ordinary men, squabbling and prideful. Hassling each other, doing their best, busing the world free. And men like me, behind fake papers and clear-glass spectacles, keeping it chained.
There had been a movie called Los Emprendedores, actually, and I happened to ahve seen it - it came out during my Chicago years, and I snuck into a theater on Halsted St. and watched it twice in a row. Edward James Olmos as a pirate jefe, Denzel Washington as the stoic peeb. James Woods, maybe, someone like that, as the noble but conflicted Coast Guard captain running them down. There's a famous scene at the end, the two exiles leaping overboard, choosing to face the sharks.
8/10
S: 3/10/17 - 3/23/18 (14 Days)
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differences. That solution - to allow slavery to continue but only in the "Hard Four" states (Lousiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Carolina).Fast-forward to today where modern technology and business techniques has only enhanced the efficiency of the southern garment industry and its "Persons bound to Labor" workforce. Its a world of Michael Jackson and movie stars and a US Marshall's service that is tasked with capturing escaped PB's (slaves isn't term that's used anymore). A weird dichotomy.
Victor is a former PB and bounty hunter who works for the Marshals and his latest case is to capture a fugitive somewhere in Indianapolis where the Underground Airline (yeah that might be a little too on the nose) is attempting to get him out of the country. Or are they. All is not as it seems and this thriller keeps you guessing who the actual bad guys are. Its a very interesting read and I liked being challenged in wanting to like Victor who represents and supports a society that is so different than the one we live in. As the story progresses, Victor starts to question his place in this world. Recommend.
All around me, all inside me, was a feeling of unease, of incipience. A murky sky, holding the possibility but not the promise of rain.
I bore silent witness, thinking, There is no army of abolition. This is what the world has for heroes. Ordinary men, squabbling and prideful. Hassling each other, doing their best, busing the world free. And men like me, behind fake papers and clear-glass spectacles, keeping it chained.
There had been a movie called Los Emprendedores, actually, and I happened to ahve seen it - it came out during my Chicago years, and I snuck into a theater on Halsted St. and watched it twice in a row. Edward James Olmos as a pirate jefe, Denzel Washington as the stoic peeb. James Woods, maybe, someone like that, as the noble but conflicted Coast Guard captain running them down. There's a famous scene at the end, the two exiles leaping overboard, choosing to face the sharks.
8/10
S: 3/10/17 - 3/23/18 (14 Days)
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LibraryThing member ShellyS
The title isn't literal. It refers to the modern equivalent of the underground railroad that sneaked escaped slaves from the American south to freedom in the north. In the alternate reality Winters imagines, Lincoln was assassinated before he took office, compromise prevented the Civil War, and in
This novel works on many levels, but mostly, it's a personal journey for Victor and an incredibly relevant commentary on the state of the US today. The provocative title caught my attention in the bookstore, the blurb made me buy it, and the words inside lead me to highly recommend it.
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the present there remain the Hard Four states where slavery is still legal. Victor is an escaped slave who's been forced to work with the US Marshals to hunt down other escaped slaves. All Victor cares about is himself. All he wants is to remain free, or the semblance of freedom that marks his life, the ability to move around the non-slave states, staying in nice hotels, eating good food, and trying to not think about the tracker inbedded in his spine. But his latest case, to find a runaway slave called Jackdaw who reportedly is hiding in Indianapolis turns out to not be the routine assignment he'd thought, and the things he learns cause him to question what he knows about the country and himself.This novel works on many levels, but mostly, it's a personal journey for Victor and an incredibly relevant commentary on the state of the US today. The provocative title caught my attention in the bookstore, the blurb made me buy it, and the words inside lead me to highly recommend it.
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LibraryThing member RBeffa
This is a disturbing novel. It is an alternate history of America in which slavery is still allowed in 4 Southern states. Constitutionally allowed and not subject to further amendment. There was no Civil War although we learn that in recent times Texas broke away from the Union and the Carolinas
This book of an imaginary America will make you think about the America we live in.
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combined into one state at some point. Some states have let slavery go over time, usually for economic incentives. Our viewpoint character is a bounty hunter who is himself a former runaway slave now employed in order to keep his freedom, which isn't really freedom, to hunt down fugitive slaves in modern America. He works for the US Marshals. This is gritty, scary more than a few times and pretty dark with almost, just almost, an X-Files feel to it (in a hidden conspiracy sort of way, not visitors from outer space). The end game here sort of went off the rails a little for me, otherwise I might have given this closer to 4 stars. The author more or less throws a couple deus ex machinas at the reader as well as some other stuff that I don't think plays fair with the reader.This book of an imaginary America will make you think about the America we live in.
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LibraryThing member adpaton
Set today, this convincing story proposes an America where slavery still exists, and where the world ignores the barbarous practises of some of the Southern States in favour of the cheap goods and thriving economy slave labour allows.
Victor is an escaped slave forced by the government to become a
The book is realistic: even after his Damascene conversion, Victor can’t change the system, but he can use his talents and knowledge to help those he loves. It may be alternate history, but Underground Airlines is all too real.
Victor is an escaped slave forced by the government to become a
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slave catcher: he infiltrates the ‘Underground Airlines’, and returns escapees to their southern hell, but eventually discovers a secret so heinous he cannot ignore it. The book is realistic: even after his Damascene conversion, Victor can’t change the system, but he can use his talents and knowledge to help those he loves. It may be alternate history, but Underground Airlines is all too real.
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Awards
Audie Award (Finalist — Best Male Narrator — 2017)
John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (Finalist — 2017)
Sidewise Award (Winner — 2016)
Chautauqua Prize (Shortlist — 2017)
Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire (Winner — 2019)
International Thriller Writers Award (Nominee — 2017)
Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year (Mystery/Thriller — 2016)
NPR: Books We Love (2016)
Locus Recommended Reading (2016)
Language
Original language
English