Customer Reviews

Black in Time

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Since John Jakes is much more famous for his vast historical epics and grandiose war tales, much of his science fiction and fantasy from the 60s and 70s has been left behind. The awkwardly titled "Black in Time" probably won't come back into print anytime soon, though it's quite a nail-biting period piece. This effort by Jakes is dated at a pretty fundamental level, as it was published in 1970 and was directly informed by the specific civil rights struggles and racial strife of that day, and there are also related issues with crusty slang and dialogue. But these issues are tolerable thanks to a pretty strong premise. In short, a scientist has introduced a time travel device in a near-future America that's on the brink of a major race war. A black militant and a white supremacist both attempt to use the time machine to go back and alter history for the benefit of their respective races. The protagonist Harold, a peaceful black scientist, tries to prevent both bad guys from the unknown effects of time travel (the handy "don't alter the future" theme for all post-Bradbury time travel stories), while also exploring his own racial sympathies and internal struggles. This is a suspenseful and rip-roaring story with some deep thoughts on human nature and racial conflict, though Jakes zooms through his plot devices way too fast to really explore the full ramifications of his story. [~doomsdayer520~]

One advantage of this book is that it has a hilarious cover: leaving it on your coffee table will guarantee a hit conversational piece.

As for the text itself, it pretty cheesy. It's a time-traveling story about a Black militant and White supremacist who each try to go back in time to change things around in favor of their race. Like any time-travel story, though, there are serious problems with the plot.