Sparrowhawk IV: Empire [Hardcover]

Edward Cline (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Cline turns his attention to the antitax movement that helped shape the American Revolution, specifically the battle to stop the Stamp Act and the subsequent rebellion that started in Virginia. Hugh Kenrick, the hero of volume two, becomes a burgess in the Virginia legislature and leads the charge to push a series of resolutions to repeal the Stamp Act. Kenrick receives a key assist in his fight from a friend in England, Dogmael Jones, who procures a copy of the law and sends it to Kenrick in advance, giving him time to form alliances and prepare his arguments against the corrupt legislation. Cline's prose style is often as ponderous and pedantic as the language of the laws he describes, and he wears his research on his sleeve, slowing the story with unnecessary minutiae and excess detail. The pace picks up down the stretch with some stirring oration during the debates surrounding the final fate of Kenrick's resolutions, and the climax features an equally stirring cameo appearance from Patrick Henry. Thomas Jefferson, Adam Smith and Samuel Johnson also make brief appearances. History buffs may find the legal maneuverings intriguing, but the leaden writing and lack of narrative momentum makes it unlikely that this volume will earn Cline many new readers.
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 290 pages
• Publisher: MacAdam/Cage (December 7, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931561877
• ISBN-13: 978-1931561877
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,349,731 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Edward Cline (1946 -) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After graduating from high school (in which he learned nothing of value) and a stint in the Air Force, he pursued his ambition to become a novelist. His first detective novel, First Prize, was published in 1988 by Mysterious Press/Warner Books, and his first suspense novel, Whisper the Guns, was published in 1992 by The Atlantean Press. First Prize was republished in 2009 by Perfect Crime. The Sparrowhawk series of novels set in England and Virginia in the pre-Revolutionary period has garnered some critical acclaim (but not yet from the literary establishment) and universal appreciation from the reading public, including parents, teachers, students, scholars, and adult readers who believe that American history has been abandoned or is misrepresented by a government-dominated educational establishment. He writes regularly for such political and cultural blog sites as Rule of Reason and The Dougout. He is dedicated to Objectivism, or Ayn Rand's philosophy of reason in all matters.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Benefits of Thinking, December 30, 2004

By 

Tom Glass (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sparrowhawk IV: Empire (Hardcover)

Sparrowhawk, Book IV: Empire is a joy. This is a thinking person's book. One of the themes of the book is that those who focus on reality, do the hard work to develop a model of that reality, and act on the results of that thinking - even in the face of opposition - will gain glorious rewards.

None of the Sparrowhawk series are easy, mind-disengaged reads. The historical detail is so rich, the philosophy is so deep, and the characterizations are so intricate, that they demand focus. But the effort yields its own glorious reward.

Book IV in the Sparrowhawk series details the politics behind the passage of the Stamp Act in England and the heroic stance of Patrick Henry and his allies in the Virginia House of Burgesses in lighting the flame of resistance to the Stamp Act.

The book makes one realize what a close-run thing it was that the beginnings of the resistance to British rule happened at all. The forces for compromise and acquiescence to encroaching British tyranny against the American colonies were strong, and it took heroic thought melded with action to move Americans to have the courage to resist.

This book makes more clear than any of the series the link between the ideas of the philosophers of the Enlightenment - like Locke and Sydney - and the actions of the American Revolution. The exploration of the intellectual trends in 18th century Britain and Europe is another benefit of reading this book.

Like the first two books in the Sparrowhawk series, this book makes clear the personal emotional benefits of thinking and acting consistently, too. Romantic fiction gives us heroes to emulate, and the Sparrowhawk series is romantic fiction at its best.

I just hope we don't have to wait as long for Book V: Revolution and Book VI: War as we did this one. Edward Cline's web page (www.edwardcline.com) says that Book V is complete and that Book VI will probably be done in early 2005. We just hope that the publisher gets them to market as soon as possible.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heroes As They Really Were, February 6, 2005

By 

Dr. J. Trammell "professor" (South Carolina) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sparrowhawk IV: Empire (Hardcover)

Ed Cline's romantic epic of the American Revolution continues its grand style, dramatic plotting, and intellectual suspense in Sparrowhawk Book Four: Empire. The fourth novel in a six-book series devoted to the founding of the United States, Book Four: Empire portrays American planters Jack Frake and Hugh Kenrick as men allied in spirit and philosophy who disagree over the means to their political ends: chiefly freedom from English tyranny. Set in 1760s Virginia, Book Four begins with George the Third's Royal Proclamation of 1763 that established a vast Indian territory between the Appalachians and the Mississippi River and forbade any use of those lands to colonials. The storyline progresses through the debates over the Stamp Act in Parliament and in the Virginia House of Burgesses and the adoption of the Virginia Resolves of 1765 that sparked the fire of revolution.

Sparrowhawk is an expertly researched work of fiction. Cline recreates the period vividly down to the relevant details in pre-revolutionary history and culture. Hugh Kenrick constructs the first system of indoor plumbing in Caxton. Communications via ship are maddeningly slow, with many months required between the passage of an act in England and the arrival of legislative documents in the colonies. The Virginia House of Burgesses in Williamsburg is populated with contemporary figures: John Robinson, George Washington, Richard Bland, Edmund Pendleton, Peyton Randolph, and Patrick Henry. Hugh becomes acquainted with young Thomas Jefferson, a law student at the College of William and Mary.

The storyline in Book Four: Empire follows the deepening conflict between England and the American colonies established in Sparrowhawk Book Three: Caxton. Upon victory in the French and Indian War, King George and Parliament set out to increase Crown control and exploitation of the colonies through settlement restrictions, higher taxation, and the denial of English constitutional rights to Americans. New Crown policies reverse the Act of Settlement that encouraged the patenting of lands upon which taxes and other levies had already been paid by the colonists to England. These new policies confiscate property from its lawful owners. England already benefited greatly in its regulation of colonial trade, exchange of currency, and collection of tariffs. The newly proposed Stamp Act imposes an unjustified additional burden on the colonials by requiring the purchase of special stamps for almost all documents. To tighten the colonials' chains, Parliament rejects any suggestion that Americans be allowed Parliamentary representation as British subjects in adherence to British constitutional law.

At the center of the Sparrowhawk epic is the story of two heroic men, Jack Frake and Hugh Kenrick, who recognize that any compromise with tyranny will destroy American liberty. Self-assured and confident in their moral convictions, Jack and Hugh part ways only over the strategies necessary to rebuff English authority and preserve American freedoms.

The personal and political issues at stake are enormous and the threat of death and other destruction very real. A challenge to Crown power is no less than "an invitation to tragedy," in the words of one burgess. Both opponents and proponents of the Virginia Resolves foresee the inevitable reaction of the king and Parliament: a punitive military response to subdue the disobedient Americans and to permanently destroy any hope of American political independence.

Hugh Kenrick is a man of tremendous intellect and practical achievement who believes in the power of reason. Reason alone, he believes, can persuade the English of the morality and justice of American independence united in alliance with England. Hugh's speeches in the Virginia House of Burgesses speed the Resolves along to passage despite heavy resistance, aiding Hugh's conviction that men who know reason will act in accordance with it.

In contrast, Jack Frake is just as settled in his conviction that many men do not respond to reasoned principles but act inconsistently and often blindly according to whim, fear, or the irrational desire for advantage and power over others. Though on different roads to their destination, Jack and Hugh recognize the same spirit and soul in one another. For Jack, Hugh is "a self that would never submit to malign authority; a self that was sensitive to the machinations of others, a self trained in the brittle, lacerating society of the aristocracy to be on guard against sly encroachments; a self that was proof against corruption, sloth, and violence; a self that recognized and cherished itself, and so was proud; a self that quietly gloried in its own unobstructed and unconquered existence. A self very much like his own."

Throughout his grand epic, Ed Cline helps readers grasp the vital connection between philosophical ideas and the personal choices and events that arise from them, especially in the birth of the independent new nation and moral political system based on individual rights. American novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand stated that art can be uniquely inspirational in showing us life as it might be and ought to be. Sparrowhawk portrays principled, heroic individuals living consistently and courageously by moral absolutes, men as they really were and might be again.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An incredible story ... that's largely true!, September 17, 2006

By 

Eric Kassan (Las Vegas, NV USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sparrowhawk IV: Empire (Hardcover)

While the Sparrowhawk series introduces fictional characters, in this book they interact with historical people amid historical events. The result is the best history lesson around - a compelling story that not only makes history come alive but allows the reader to get a unique perspective of the founding fathers. If this were used in schools, many more students would have an interest in history. This particular book is my favorite in the series so far.