Pastwatch (1996)

Pastwatch looks at an alternate history of Columbus from the perspective a society that is first able to view the past as it happens and, eventually, to send people back in time to alter history as we know it. I personally feel that Card, a "card-carrying" member of the Mormons enjoys this kind of reconstruction of history because of his faith and how Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism did exactly that, invented a history, to provide a justification for his new religion. (See his Alvin series for another look at an alternate American History.)
Quite an enjoyable read, obviously requiring willing suspension of disbelief, but none the worse for that. Card may have other axes to grind than what I have assumed above, but his goal as a story-teller is to tell a good story...and he succeeds admirably with that.
For all that, it is not really a book that I would read again. Card may have (probably did!) considerable research into the Columbus history as we have it. But this then means that one would need to do similar research to find out what is historical and what is not. Obviously, any dialogue and almost all motivations would be excluded, but the overall events both personal and political too would need to be reverified, and that is just too much work for too little gain. Enjoy the story; Card creates enjoyable plots, characters and tensions within the same. Just don't expect to get (necessarily!) any real history here.
Additionally, his reinvention of the Flood, just does not come close to the Biblical story at all. Major failing for me. ( )

creative, bloody, overly dramatic title ( )

Interesting book I read years ago. I love the uncovering of certain historical information in the novel -- the real story of the biblical flood and other moments are fun. but ultimately it's Orson Scott Card so the ideas are only so good and the execution is labored. I've never finished another one of his books. ( )

Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus by Orson Scott Card (first published in 1996) is a complex story about scientists/researchers, Christopher Columbus, and alternate history. The researchers were part of the Pastwatch project, which enabled them to witness and study any time and place in the history of the world. At first the images provided only fleeting glimpses that lacked detail and sound. However, the continued development of the Pastwatch technology, enabled the researchers to clearly view, hear, and record events and/or individual conversations that interested them. For many years the researchers were limited to voyeurism, i.e., they could not communicate with their subjects. However, new technology eventually provided the ability to communicate with historical subjects. Of course that ability also provided opportunities to affect the events of the past, which provided the possibility of changing history, and therefore changing the present as well. Tagiri and Hassan lead the Columbus project within the Pastwatch organization. They were concerned about the way European explorers/invaders (mostly from Spain) raped, murdered and took native peoples from the new world back to Spain where they were forced to live as slaves. The Columbus project was established to try to use the Pastwatch technology to eliminate that exploitation and torture by the Spaniards. The researchers believed that the best way to accomplish this was to either stop Columbus from sailing west to the new world or change his attitudes about native peoples and slavery. After many years, Tagiri and Hassan’s daughter, Diko, became the leader of this effort and the evolved technology enabled the Pastwatch researchers to physically travel back in time to impact history. In addition to their concerns about physical violence toward the people in the past and the slavery of those people, the researchers were also concerned about a crumbling ecosystem and society in the present. Changing the actions of Columbus was seen as the key to preventing the slavery and possibly avoiding ecological and societal catastrophe in the present. This book takes the reader back and forth from the Pastwatch researchers in the present to Columbus and his contemporaries. It also enlightens the reader about the development of societies in Haiti and surrounds. It provides a very interesting account of the life of Columbus and the society in which he lived. Diko and her team journey back in time and endure much loss and hardship to create an alternate history. The pivotal role of Columbus regarding the alternate world history is very well developed and fascinating. I found this book to be a first-rate and very enjoyable time-travel and alternate-history tale. ( )

I'm a big fan of Orson Scott Card. His books show that he has one of the most imaginative minds out there. Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus is no different.

It starts out with a small prologue, that explains how the world has ended up in the not so distant future. We learn that many species and many humans have been wiped out but despite this, humanity has taken a turn. It has become, while not Utopian, a more understanding society, interested in learning from mistakes.

We then are shot into the past at a look at Christopher Columbus' life. It is just a little snippet and gives us an idea of the story to come. We also learn that someone has been watching this interatction of Colubus, someone from the future.

Tagiri is part of the project Pastwatch. Essentially, there are two different machines that researchers use for Pastwatch, Tempoview and the newer TruSite. Both machines allow researchers to look back in time. Tagiri is especially interested in the life of slaves, and becomes convinced that Christopher Columbus' voyage is what causes the more brutal slavery and killings in the America's.

She eventually marries and has a daughter, Diko, who joins her mother in her research of Columbus. Her father is also part of the team. In the course of their research they also are joined by Hunahpu and Kemal.

The researchers come to the conclusion that Columbus must be stopped, but also learn that the future has changed the past before. It is learned that originally Columbus went on a crusade to the East, not his journey to the West. A future pastwatcher plays the holy trinity to change his mind.

When time travel is finally invented in their time, it is decided that Kemal, Hunahpu and Diko will travel back in time to save history. They are shuttled to three different times in the Caribbean to set about their work.

Throughout the entire novel, chapters on Columbus's life and his original journey are written. It explains some of his past and his love of navigation. It also details to how he rose from being a Weaver's son, to being able to meet with Kings and Queens.

Overall I was very intrigued by this novel. Card writes believably and makes sure that even a non-scientific reader can understand his concepts. His writing style is very clear and detailed and you can picture in your head the scenes and people that he describes.

Pastwatch is also a very interesting concept because it is a believable invention. It is conceivable that in the future we may develop a machine like this. And if we did, would we use it to the same purposes. Tied into this are Card's views of the morals of the future. They give up their own future to improve the world before them, and that, in this time, is not very believable due to human greed and nature. But it is a wish that we could evolve so highly.

My only complaint on the novel is the ending. It doesn't really describe how much is changed, other than the ending of slavery, in this newly created future. I would have liked to know what the countries of the world were all doing, if the great World Wars had happened, etc. It seems like Card did his job of rewriting the past and didn't want to go further.

Pastwatch
Published in 1996
398 pages plus 4 pages of sources ( )