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Liberating Atlantis: A Novel of Alternate History

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In The United States of Atlantis, Victor Radcliff led a revolt to liberate the island continent from its British masters (see The United States of Atlantis). During the revolt, Victor sired a son with a slave. However, decades after leading the USA to victory, his grandson from that improper union Frederick Radcliff is a well kept house slave owned by Henry and Clotilde Barford.

An incident with his vile owner Clotilde has him kicked out of the house and away from his beloved Helen into the field. Already questioning how the Founding Fathers including his paternal grandfather omitted liberty for so many, Frederick angrily has had enough. He flees, but not long after his desertion, he leads a growing slave insurgency. The powerful slave owners try to force their hand picked politicians to bring the forces of the USA to put down the rebels. However the Atlantis Senate remains divided as the two lead Consuls, abolitionist Newton of the North and slave holder Stafford of the South paralyze the government with their disagreement re the growing revolt. With the Union in peril of splitting apart a reluctant Newton finally supports sending troops to put down the revolt.

The third Atlantis tale (see Opening Atlantis) continues Harry Turtledove's sort of alternate American historical saga. The story line is filled with plenty of action, but is character driven. Stafford is Calhoun and Newton is Webster as they debate the merits of their respective position while a reluctant Radcliff leads the insurgency. All three are solid with strong beliefs that come across as genuine; ironically Radcliff with the most to gain and lose is the doubter of the trio. Fans will enjoy this deep look at the situation that led to the American Civil War and its aftermath through the lens of an enjoyable thought provoking alternate history.

Harriet Klausner

This is the third in the "Atlantis" series from Harry Turtledove which currently consists of

1) "Opening Atlantis"
2) "The United States of Atlantis"
3) This book, "Liberating Atlantis"

This series looks at the history of the United States through the prism of an alternative history world in which there is a large island or small continent in the mid Atlantic. The first book described the discovery of the island, named Atlantis, and its early history, which bore a remarkable resemblance to that of the US colonies up to about the seven years war. The second book essentially tells the story of the American War of Independence but translates it onto the island of Atlantis. This book tells the story of how slavery came to be abolished through a civil war in the mid-nineteenth century, though the parallels with real history are not nearly as close as in the second book.

During that second book, the character who corresponds to the historical George Washinton had an affair with a black slave girl, which resulted in the birth of a son.

"Liberating Atlantis" begins two generations later. Frederick Radcliffe, grandson of the general who defeated the |British and gained freedom for White Atlanteans, is a house slave on a plantation in one of the southern states of Atlantis. He doesn't usually dare use his famous surname within the hearing of his master or other whites because slaves are not supposed to have surnames. Annoying as his servile status is, be knows that as a house slave he is far better off than those blacks and "copperskins" (native Americans brought to Atlantis as slaves) who have to work in the fields. But for an accident he would probably never have chosen to rock the boat. But then events outside his control fill him with a burning sense of an injustice - and a chance to do something about it ...

Turtledove once wrote that alternative history provides a "funhouse mirror" through which we can take a different perspective on real history. He has put this into practice: others have described his novels as having taken their plots from actual events but with different historial and fictional individuals and races playing the same roles.

For example, in his book "In the Presence of Mine Enemies" a Third Reich which had won World War II eventually collapses in exactly the same way that the real Soviet Union collapsed. And Turtledove's massive eleven-book saga which begins with "How Few Remain" tells the dystopian history of a world in which the Confederate States of America won independence and survived for nearly a century but followed almost exactly the historical course which in the real world led Germany to Hitler's Third Reich and the Holocaust.

The parallels with real history are much less close in this book than in "The United States of Atlantis" but they are definately still there and looking for them is one of the more entertaining parts of the book. (I was particularly amused when one of the pro-slavery politicans makes a comment to the commander of the Atlantean army which in real history Abraham Lincoln made to one of his less aggressive generals - "If you don't want to use the army I would like to borrow it for a while.")

Includes a fascinating little passage about the extent to which important individuals affect historical trends. At one point two of the main characters are speculating about what course Atlantean history would have followed if Frederic Radcliffe's grandfather hadn't had the affair with the slave girl and he had never been born. They come to the conclusion that the particular war they are involved in would not have happened, but within a few decades something similar probably would have.

Turtledove also puts into the thoughts of his characters ideas which foreshadow future events. One or two of the characters in "The United States of Atlantis" (including, ironically, Frederick Radcliffe's grandfather) were more than a little uncomfortable that their fight for freedom for White Atlanteans did not include anything similar for blacks or "copperskins" in the southern part of the continent. Similarly, in this book two of the main characters opposed to slavery become uncomforably aware that some of the worst injustices against Atlantean women, white or black, will not be abolished with slavery. In both books the characters concerned reluctantly come to the conclusion which can be summarised as "one battle at a time."


All the books Turtledove writes seem to get slammed by some readers who hate them and praised by others who loved them. I am quite certain that this will be no exception. I enjoyed reading this series.

While none of the Atlantis books are a work of genius like "The Guns of the South" or "The Two Georges: The Novel of an Alternate America" they are nevertheless among Harry Turtledove's better novels. I liked the characters, I thought the action was well paced, the descriptions imaginative, the sequence of historical events broadly plausible. And he keeps his tendancy to repeat things too much reasonably well in check!

Excitement and a compelling story line make this the best of the Atlantis series. It was a great read and makes one think about many things.

I'm looking forward to more volumes in this series!

A very interesting "take" on slave rebellions. This one is led by Radcliff's grandson through a slave concubine during the Revolutionary War. This book is thoughtfully done and involves not only the slave revolt, but it's affect on the country as a whole. It also demonstrates that rival leaders can come together to solve awsome problems. The main characters can be compared with William Webster, John C Calhoun, and Spartacus. If you are a fan of "alternate history" you will enjoy this book.

"Liberating Atlantis" is the third volume of Turtledove's "Atlantis" trilogy, set in a fictional universe wherein the eastern third of North America is separated from the rest of the continent, and resides in the mid Atlantic. Unsurprisingly, it is settled by much the same people as came to North America in the real world, and goes through a somewhat similar history. In "Liberating Atlantis", the United States Of Atlantis finally deals with the issue of slavery ---again in similar fashion to the real world, but with fascinating twists.

Turtledove's enormous knowledge of history and unsurpassed story telling skills make the tale as real as anything you will ever read. The plot and dialogue are crisp and riveting. I believe this is the best of the three "Atlantis" books.

I have never read these but my grandson (who is almost 22)has been reading Harry Turtledove books since he was 10 or 12 and absolutely loves them.

Liberating Atlantis (2009) is the third Alternate History novel in the Atlantis series, following The United States of Atlantis. In the previous volume, Atlantis won the war. Victor and his troops lay siege to the redcoats in Croydon. But they were facing a long investment.

Then French ships appeared in the harbor and started bombarding the town. Cornwallis surrendered his troops. England sent two officials to sue for peace and Victor worked out a tentative treaty.

Victor had an encounter with a black slave in French Atlantis. When she became pregnant, he tried to buy her from the owner. Yet the owner refused to sell, even after she delivered a boy child.

In this novel, Frederick is a house slave -- the butler -- on Barford's plantation. He is also the grandson of Victor Radcliff. Frederick knows this because his mother told him. He does not use the surname Radcliff very often, but he is who he is.

Helen is Frederick's wife. At least, they are married as much as slaves can be. She is also a house slave on Barford's plantation.

Lorenzo is a copperskin native of Terranova. He is a field slave on Barford's plantation.

Henry Barford is the owner of a plantation near New Marseille. He is a good master as long as everything goes alright.

Clotilde Barford is Henry's wife. She is much more demanding than her husband.

Matthew is the overseer of Barford's plantation. He supervises the field slaves.

Leland Newton is a Consul of the United States of Atlantis. He is from Croydon, a free state.

Jeremiah Statford is the other Consul. He is from Cosquer, a slave state.

Balthasar Sinapis is a Colonel in the USA Army. He was originally from some foreign nation overseas.

In this story, Clotilde is entertaining wives from nearby plantations. She wants everything to be perfect. Then Frederick trips on a loose floor board and spills an overloaded tray of soup over the guests.

Henry understands the reasons for the social disaster, but his wife is demanding blood. He talks her down to five lashes and demotion to a field slave. Then he informs Frederick and marches him off at gunpoint to the lockup.

The next day, Frederick is punished and then escorted by Matthew to his new cabin. Helen has him lie on his stomach and smears ointment on the lash wounds. He hurts very much and is very angry at his master and mistress.

A few days later, Frederick and Helen muster with the field slaves and trudge off to weed the crops. Since the slaves break tools, the hoe is crude and heavy. In his anger, however, Frederick gets ahead of the other slaves working the rows, so another slave tells him to slow down.

Soon afterward, Atlantean soldiers come on the plantation with three sick men. They have yellow fever and the lieutenant doesn't want to take the disease to New Marseille. Henry argues with him, but eight muskets convince him to aid the party.

The soldiers are escorting a wagon of new muskets to the local armory. More of the soldiers become ill and then Clotilde catches it. Henry is furious at the lieutenant.

Frederick considers the weapons and the sick soldiers. He decides to rise against the system. He kills Matthew and then lets the other slaves realize that they will all be blamed for his actions. Lorenzo is the first to recognize Frederick's leadership.

Frederick leads the other field slaves back to the big house and they kill the remaining soldiers. Then they kill Henry and the house slaves join them. A maid wins the right to smother Clotilde.

Frederick knows that the neighbors will soon realize the situation and call out the militia. He leads his men and women to the nearest -- and meanest -- plantation. They shoot the master's son, but the master himself seems invincible.

The owner runs back to the big house and locks himself inside. Both the master and mistress fire upon the slaves from the house. Then the slaves break the door hinges and shoot the master. The mistress shoots herself.

The slaves take casualties at this plantation. Then a visitor comes to the plantation and is shot by the sentries. Someone will be expecting him to return, so the slaves leave that plantation and head out to take another.

News of the uprising reaches the Atlantean Senate. The Senators have mixed reactions. One group wants to send the army to suppress the slaves and the other want to let the uprising run its course.

Since each Consul has veto power, Newton and Statford nullify each other. Without Consul approval, nothing official can be done. The Senate finally adjourns without deciding anything.

Statford then goes directly to an army officer from his state and suggests that something might be done unofficially. Since such direct contact with the military is a violation of procedure, Statford keeps the contact secret. Yet Newton soon finds out about the underhanded maneuvers and puts a stop to such conniving.

Eventually, both Consuls agree to take the army to New Marseille to stop the uprising one way or another. The army is ready to go within four days. Colonel Sinapis goes with them on a special train. On the way, they discover that the uprising has spread to the eastern states.

This tale portrays a different kind of civil war. Unlike the War Between the States, this war starts with a slave uprising. In our timeline, such uprisings happened about once a generation. None were successful, but many deaths resulted on both sides.

This uprising was different in various ways. The establishment of a Free Republic is not entirely new, but the widespread uprisings are unusual. The leadership of the rebellion, however, is rather unique.

Frederick and Lorenzo don't let the slaves kill indiscriminately. They are willing to let whites dwell in their territory if they did not try to reinstate slavery. They even let armed bands leave under truce.

This story addresses the issue of slavery within Atlantis. But it also raises another matter: enfranchisement of women. One suspects that a future volume will cover this subject. Read and enjoy!

Highly recommended for Turtledove fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of slave uprisings, political confrontations, and personal courage.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Another great book by a great author. I have read all of this series and his other alternative history searies. The alternative history tied to what we know from our past makes them so much more realistic. Read it in one sitting.

I finished this book some weeks ago but then comes the holiday rush, et cetera. You know how it goes. On the off, off chance anyone was chomping at the bit waiting for this one, I apologize.

I've mulled it over for a few weeks and I've decided I really liked this book. As I was reading it I was annoyed by a number of elements, but after digesting it I realized they were really too minor to be worth mentioning. So Turtledove got one strong novel in under the wire for 2009. Here's hoping he uses this as a springboard to better quality in the new year.

The first sentence had me worried: "If the floorboard hadn't been sticking up, perhaps all of Atlantis would be different." The floorboard refers to a board which Frederick Radcliff, grandson of Victor, trips over while carrying an enormous tray full of hot soup for his owner, who is entertaining a bunch of society matrons. As you can imagine it makes quite a mess. As punishment, Frederick is flogged and sent out to work in the fields. This lasts just a few days. Then Atlantean soldiers stop by and quarter men suffering from yellow fever on the Barfield plantation--apparently they don't have a counterpart to our Third Amendment. The yellow fever spreads and most of the white folks on the plantation die. The rest are killed when Frederick sees an opportunity and leads his fellow slaves in an uprising. They steal the rifles the soldiers were escorting and take their revolution on the road, the rebellious slave army growing with each new plantation liberated. That's Book One.

I worried about the first sentence because I hate when people reduce history to the minute details of how things happened. Occasionally a purely providential event will play a huge role, but most often it's major social, political, economic, and geographical forces which have built over long periods of time. Something like tripping over a floorboard happens to unleash them, but any number of such stimuli could have done it. If Frederick hadn't led the rebellion, someone else would have. Now that means it may have been saddled with worse leadership (or with shrewder, for that matter) but the unimportance of such coincidences must not be forgotten.

I didn't like the way Frederick acted in this section of the book (or throughout, insofar as he continues to exhibit these traits). He whined about how much he resented slavery--understandable--but he tolerated it as long as he had a cushy job (he was their butler). A few days at the lower end of the chain and it's an intolerable injustice to which death itself is preferable. It felt like this righteous rage came from indignation at losing his privileges (which were certainly lost unfairly, but still. . . ) I was surprised any lifelong field hands took him seriously instead of laughing at him for being soft, the way the underprivileged so often do when they get the chance to torment someone whose lot in life had previously been better than theirs.

Then there's the matter of the characterization of the Barfields. They're ruining Frederick's life by keeping him in chains, so it's understandable that he feels badly toward them. He doesn't say they're pure evil, but the praise he affords them is grudging and is always negative: They're "not too cruel" rather than "kind." Another perspective on these people would have been welcome. In Donald McCaig's Jacob's Ladder, for instance, the planter, Samuel Gatewood, is obnoxiously racist and follows a code of justice deriving from this that is absolutely ruinous to several of his slaves, who are the book's protagonists. However, we see him from other perspectives and realize that he truly cares about them and has what he believes are their best interests at heart. He is a product of his times and is blinded to just how ineffective and injurious his philanthropy is. We see the disastrous effects of his slaveholding policies, but we find it impossible to hate him. In Canaan, a later book set in the same universe but mostly involving characters who appeared either very peripherally or not at all in the earlier, he writes a letter to one of his former slaves expressing incomprehension that he had been so resented by the servants he had tried to help. He closes by telling the slave, Jesse, that though he is very poor since losing his property, he would help Jesse if he could--assuming Jesse is in an even worse situation, though in fact he's a USCT veteran with a pension and political connections. We have a complex view of the slaveholder, and we simultaneously resent and sympathize with him. He's fully human, and a particularly poignant character.

Not in this book, though.

Anyway, in Part 2, the two Consuls of Atlantis are running the government: Leland Newton, an abolitionist, and Jeremiah Stafford, a slaveholder. Each has veto power over the other, and each hates the other, so nothing gets done. Newton is refusing to use the Atlantean army to put down the slave uprising. Stafford starts conspiring with Southern officers to find ways around this. Newton learns of his plans and conspires with Northerners to block him. All this cloak and dagger, however, is short-circuited when Northern politicians prevail upon Newton to send in the troops, thinking that the federal army can referee what would otherwise be a race war between black/copperskin insurgents and white militia.

So the army takes the field. In my Opening Atlantis review I joked about how Atlanteans seem to prefer civilians in overall command of military campaigns. Here joking predicts actual truth--it's like in the Settling Accounts books, when Turtledove was so predictable that satire turned out to be the most effective way of divining spoilers. The Army is set up so that both consuls must take the field with it (which raises the questions of what happens in a two-front war, and who's running the civilian government back in the capital while the war is going on). They alternate days in command. A senior officer (a colonel; the army has so little use for expertise that they don't even bother having the rank of general) advises the consuls and issues orders to support and operationalize those the consuls give him.

Stafford wants to use the Army to punish the rebellious slaves. Newton originally intends to use them to break up the warring factions but soon realizes they must offer battle to the slaves. They don't work at cross-purposes for long, surprisingly, and they defer to Colonel Sinapis, a Greek officer who had had to flee Europe after the failed revolutions of 1848. (We get hints about his background, and they're interesting. I thought perhaps he was a historical figure, but it turns out Turtledove was making some obscure pun on the board game Clue--Sinapis is the genus of the mustard plant. Isn't that FUNNY?!?!?!)

Along the way Stafford and Newton develop a respect for each other, at first grudging. They come to cooperate more closely and even show occasional, touching glimpses of personal concern for each other. This evolution is uneven and often backslides, but slowly, slowly, we can expect the consuls to pull together more and more.

The slave army eventually beats the Atlantean army like a rented mule. Slaves want to slaughter everyone in it, but Frederick orders a ceasefire. There's a good character thread he has, of the difficulties of amateur generalship (In fact of the dozen or more characters called upon in the series to provide that, he's perhaps the only one who gives some sign that running a military isn't something you just pick up as you go) coupled with the difficulties of commanding an army of self-liberated slaves who think freedom means not having to obey orders from anyone (least of all a black man--There's a clear racial hierarchy in Atlantis, which the slaves have internalized).

The ceasefire gives way to negotiations to end the rebellion. At first the slaves ask for a seperatist Free Republic, but the Consuls flatly refuse. They work out a mutually acceptable way for all parties concerned to live together as one nation.

At this point all three viewpoint characters show impressive growth, as they realize the importance of compromise, learn how to work with people they despise and distrust (and thus perhaps learning to despise them no longer), look at things from other perspectives rather than villifying their opponents, and speak hard truths to their respective core constituencies.

We go back to the capital with the Slug Hollow Accords in place: Slavery is ended immediately, with the government compensating former slaveholders. General amnesty for soldiers on both sides who committed atrocities during the fight and also for any cruel slaveholder whose former property might want to press a grievance against him. Full, and I do mean full, legal equality: no seperate but equal, no bans on interracial marriage, no affirmative action, no Freedmen's Bureau. There will remain a certain social stratification, but we get hints that this will not last long. I was skeptical that such a sweeping reform could take place. Historically, evolution toward greater racial equality is almost always incremental. Still, this at last makes Atlantis what I had wanted it to be from the moment I read the promotional material for Opening Atlantis, an uninhabited continent where people from any inhabited continent can find a new beginning.

There remains political wrangling to get this revolutionary new program through. Stafford is lobbying for it very hard, harder than Newton since just about everyone Newton would be likely to influence is already sympathetic to it. Southern senators are won over when Frederick himself goes to the state of Gernika (formerly Spanish Atlantis, which was absorbed by the USA a generation earlier, politically unifying the mini-continent) to convince slaves still up in arms to lay down their guns and get behind the new peace agreement. Turtledove makes fun of Strom Thurmond, the Accord passes, and the races immediately start hanging out together--on a long line of slaves who want legal marriages, Frederick and his wife (soon to be legal) witness a white couple celebrating with their non-white fellow brides and grooms.

Complex issues were looked at realistically, believable characters were written intelligently (with a few exceptions), and a most intriguing picture of how a struggle for racial equality could progress, with each group playing a cooperative role, was painted. I found the final section, on the politics of Slug Hollow, most interesting. A strong conclusion to the Atlantis saga, if it will indeed be that. Neither the author nor the publisher have given us any reason to believe more Atlantis stories will come, so we must content ourselves with a final chapter that shows Atlantis finally becoming what it had shown promise of being all along. Very appropriate and fitting. I'd be interested in stories of Atlantis in the twentieth century--how a stepping stone between Europe and Terranova (North America) affects strategy during the World Wars is a good question--but I'm happy enough to close the book on this entertaining story where it is. The only alternative would soon have me sailing to Rhodesia.

A liberated view of race equalization in the 'new' world, well done for the most part.