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Summary: Please read _Guns Germs & Steel_ first!
Review: [Possible spoilers]This is exactly the kind of overblown "Deux Ex Machina" kind of SF story which I have come to dread (having found a number of examples recently-sigh). The pretentiousness of the author to suggest that Columbus-nay his entire society!-could be redeemed in the manner depicted makes any Rube Goldberg device look like a simple lever system (sorry for the mixed analogy but it fits!). To name one problem (perhaps the core issue), people (and societies) do NOT change their entire worldviews at a drop of a hat! They will usually cling to them tenaciously ever the more tighter as the evidence against them accumulates. There is a tremendous cultural inertia at work in any society past or present and authentic change takes time and is often NOT a given even in favorable circumstances. Add in the more menial tasks by the protagonists which were ridiculously accomplished without much of a sweat being broken and this makes for a perfect example of the kind of overly-optimistic humanistic hubris which afflicts our society today ("Any problem can be solved if enough time and effort is devoted to it"). In addition to Jared Diamond's book I would also recommend (all NF) _Voltaire's Bastards_ and _The Arrogance of Humanism_ as antidotes to the cheerful audaciousness of the ideas in _Redemption_.
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Summary: Engaging but full of too many holes.
Review: A very interesting view of how a single moment in time can lead to so many profoundly different histories. This one centers on Columbus' voyage to the west, and raises questions of what may have happened if he didn't travel west. Our current world evolves into a rather dire future for humanity, so the people from our timeline (set in the future) try to set things straight. They want to prevent the enslavement of the native people of North Amerca, and have history unfold quite differently. However, the alternate history that Card builds in the last quarter of the novel is really not plausible in my mind. It is far too didactic about how humans should live, rather than really probing why humans are they way they are. And the rosy ending at the end is nice for a movie, but not very interesting for a book.
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Summary: This book is horrible!
Review: -boring -unrealistic -boring -it doesn't get interesting until ur 3/4 of the way through and half of the info mantioned in the first part is useless.
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Summary: A True Example of Fine Workmanship
Review: My father always said, "if you can't give it your best, then at least try!", and with my father's words in mind, Orson Scott Card delivers. I read book in the blink of an eye, probably because I was on a long road trip and reading seemed to pass the time much faster than singing along with the radio, but nevertheless, this book captivated me and it wasn't just because of the great idea/storyline. The research that OSC engaged himself in to make this book work is astounding for a Sci-fi writer, much less a historian. Card not only captivates his audience with his steller storytelling abilities, but apparently also with his intelligent researching talents as well. Chistopher Columbus was like a dear friend to him and as the book came to the end, it was still unsure as to how the book would conclude. I rate this book in the highest of sci-fi books due to the gripping style of writing, the imaginative idea encorporated by killer research and intelligence, and the perspective he definately gives off as a cataclysmic 'what if?' by the idea of the book. This is a must read for all good book lovers.
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Summary: Perhaps the finest alternate history novel yet written
Review: "In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." Five centuries later, Orson Scott Card wrote a novella titled 'Atlantis'. The connection is 'Pastwatch: the Redemption of Christopher Columbus', perhaps the finest alternate history novel yet written. In 1996's 'Pastwatch', Card weaves his compelling take on Atlantis into a still more compelling picture of Cristobal Colon and his place in our history. Along this entertaining ride we also find slavery, human sacrifice and a post-nuclear society's great moral dilemma. For in spite of the historical overtones, 'Pastwatch' is about time travel. Future historians lay the blame for their ruined planet at the foot of global evils such as slavery. While appreciating the complex causality of our world, their technology lets them zoom in on Columbus's expansion of Europe's cultural boundaries as crucial. If he could be dissuaded from his momentous voyage, the Pastwatchers consider, we should surely erase slavery from our troubled past. 'Pastwatch' tells the story of their struggle with new data and with conscience; satisfactorily, it also tells us how, why and what they conclude. Card writes so competently that his storytelling never interferes with the story. The result is an emotionally transformative experience, but also an insightful one. Civilized values are laid on the table so expertly that the reader can only take them to heart. To read 'Pastwatch' is to catalogue great virtues of humanity, whom Card redeems alongside Columbus. Let us, like the Pastwatchers, work to keep redemption within the pages of great books.
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Summary: Orson Scott Card's Agenda
Review: Pastwatch is a terrific Science Fiction/Historical novel. It also promotes a Christian agenda. There are lots of Propaganda works out there, but Orson Scott Card does a different piece of propaganda. Card realised that you can't rely on the supernatural to validate Christianity. If you say something like 'Christianity is the best because God said so', it's a circular logic that doesn't convince anyone (For example to that, the Pope has the ability to speak 'Ex Cathedra' - that is, in the name of God. In all of history, Popes have done that maybe 11 times. The very first thing that a Pope declared Ex Cathedra was that when he speaks Ex Cathedra he speaks for God. That's a kind of circular argument we would find hard to swallow). Therefore, Orson Scott Card's agenda in this book was to prove the superiority of Christianity in a social context - to prove that Christianity is superior because it makes people better off. One of the interesting facets about OSC's SF is that Card is very conscience about the religious life of his characters. Religion plays a huge role in his works, and most of Card's characters are believers in one sense or the other. Card sometimes attacked the vision of humanity as 'evolving beyond religion' that is often expressed in science fiction. And yet, notice that OSC's future society in Pastwatch contains No Religion. Here our great crusader for Christianity's cause AND for spiritual importance of people creates a future, semi idealic Earth, in which human beings have 'out grown religion'. The only religious people in the future part of the book, as far as I can recall, are the Muslim guy with a fairly minor role, and a priest that has exactly 7 lines. (I haven't counted). Interesting don't you think? Especially considering two elements: the huge role religion, and especially Christianity plays in the past, and the size of the moral dilemma standing in front of Card's future characters. The historical people are quite occupied with Religion. Especially Columbus. Here we have Card constructing a world of complex religious character, which paints Christianity in a positive colour, but doesn't fear to seemingly criticise - never Christianity as such, but always the Christians practising it. Even more important is the huge moral dilemma standing in front of the Future people. They have to judge whether they should sacrifice their world. We're talking about saving the whole world, and you don't see any priest around, you don't see anyone calling for God. To me, this says two things. The first is OSC is criticising the atheist world present in SF so often. Card is saying basically that this world must self-destruct, that humanity can't survive without Christianity. The doom of the non-Christian world is the theme card is playing with. The second issue is the choice. At the end, the future heroes decide to change the world. However, the way they do it is by creating an American/European Christian alliance. This means the destruction of the native culture of the Americans and its substitute by Christianity. In a letter to me, Card defended this as an interventionist policy, a reaction to the human sacrifice conducted for the native American God. Here Card is dealing with what I consider to be double standards. He doesn't blame Christianity for the crimes of Christians. The crusades where done for the glory of God, but Card doesn't blame Christianity for them, but only societies and individual Christians. On the other hand, the native Americans' sacrifice of humans in counted against their religion. If I recall correctly, Card argued that Christianity was in essence 'manipulated' to allow for the slaughters of God's enemies, while the human sacrifice was caused by the religion of the native Americans. This is a problematic argument on two grounds: First, there is a school of thought, by people such as Hiram Mekubi (sp?), who believe that the doctrine of Christianity is Anti-semitic by nature. I don't know enough about the ideas of this group to comment on it, but clearly, saying that Christianity is morally 'right' religion while the Native American religion wasn't, is problematic at best. More importantly, though, it is quite possible to change a facet of a religion without changing it all. The best example is one Card is certainly very well familiar with, that of the church of later day Saints - of the Mormons. For a long time, Mormons were involved in polygamy relationships - allowing multiple wives for one man. However, under pressure from the US government, this practice died out. It is not necessary to destroy an entire religion because of one aspect of it. Card is rightfully and wholeheartedly against the atrocities committed by the Europeans against the native Americans. However, Card doesn't mind the cultural disaster inflicted upon the natives by the Christians. In fact, his vision is of the same kind of cultural destruction. The consequence of heroes' actions in the Card's book is that a Pax Christiana - a Christian peace comes to the world. Thus, the ending of the novel is in a Christian Utopia, guided by pure Christian ideals. And atheists form this Christian utopia, the last atheists of a destroyed, non-Christian world. This is the victory of Christianity, as the non-Christians are convinced in the supremacy and superiority of Christ. Symbolically, Card is passing the torch - from the unreligious world that fails to the glory of Christendom, a world united under Christ. Thus, as I found Pastwatch to be a good book, I'm still troubled by the messages it contains. P.S. As I was writing it, I was thinking of several other parallels to Christianity, which might or might not be coincidences. Is it an accident that there are 3 people sent to save the world, one of them a woman, and is there something Christ-like about the sacrifice of out world in favour of the new, Christian kingdom? If you have any answers, email me.
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Summary: One of Card's best novels
Review: Plot, character, history, science, ethical dillemmas -- Card's got it all and done it well. This is one of my favorite all-time books.
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Summary: Second echelon for Card
Review: "Pastwatch" is about a group of people in the future who have developed the technology to look into the past. With their machines, they research endlessly and discover events like Noah's flood and the origin of slavery. As an amateur historian, I was more than a little excited about the ideas in the novel. Card also does an excellent job conveying the difficulties of being an historian in this world, many small factions form and hold on tightly to their small tid-bits of information, hoarding their history. The majority of the novel, of course, focuses directly on Christopher Columbus and his quest to find the new world. Card draws many parallels between Columbus' world and the future world of the historians, their struggles are often the same. This is a good Card book, but not a great one. It is as strong on ideas as any of his other works, but just doesn't have the impact. The power of this novel isn't in the same league as Card's earlier books, especially "Ender's Game" and "Speaker for the Dead" which were simply superb. There is a vague sense of conflict in the novel (man against his environment) that just never gains focus and things work a little too smoothly for all of the main characters. There is personal stress, but all of the characters are so eager to do what they have to do that the personal stresses just seem secondary. All in all a good book, but I know Card can do better.
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Summary: inspirational and thought-provoking!
Review: How could history be altered to change the future? I thought it took a while to actaully get into the book itself, but once I got started, I became extremely involved in the complexity of the situation proposed. What happens when you change the past? Or moreso, the question is, are you willing to give up, not only your life, but your entire existence, every trace of having ever existed, to save the future of the human race? And if what Card proposes is true, it's possible that every single one of us will, someday, cease to have ever existed, or perhaps live our entire lives over and over again, each time in a different fasion. AMAZING!
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Summary: Provocative Speculative Fiction--Useful in History Class!
Review: Harlan Ellison always maintains he writes "speculative fiction," not science fiction or fantasy. Certainly his term of choice applies to Orson Scott Card's effort in this volume. In our generation the undeification of Christopher Columbus has come a long way and he has become a whipping boy for a lot of intellectual efforts. Card places his character at the center of one of the most provocative "what if" books I have ever read. This book is useful in history classes, not because of its accuracy but because it raises questions useful to students of the past. Columbus as "hero" or "devil" is a pertinent discussion for it leads to the evaluation of other historical figures as well. More importantly it drives home the idea of actions have consequences, which are amply touched upon in the book. From slavery to syphilis, from colonization to chocolate, there are issues worth considering. Even the subplots are useful to class discussion. Card's narrative reveals the "real Noah," which truly extends the idea of mythic figures pretty far back in human history. There is usually a kernel of truth in any mythic narrative and trying to discover it or figure it out can lead to spirited class discussions. Card is imminently readable, and has long been one of the favorite authors of students in my experience. There are collections of "What If" books around that can provide other examples, but "Pastwatch" is at the heart of the so many issues important to the study of history that it is at the top of the list in its utility. Besides, it is a good yarn with the expected Card characterizations in which intellectual effort is as passionate as romance.
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