Cahokia Jazz

It's been a while since I read such an accomplished contemporary novel. This is an object-lesson in worldbuilding. Unlike many similar stories, 1920's Cahokia doesn't feel like trompe l'oeil trickery; it feels real and lived-in. For every ounce of exposition you sense a slew of alt-history dreamt up by the author but held in reserve. And it's equally convincing as a period piece: the America of our timeline that still more or less exists to the north and east of this one is unerringly evoked.

The 20's setting and themes of robber-baron capitalism, false-flag shenanigans and racist populism are grist for the book club mill. But what stood out to me were the sheer quality of the writing (e.g. a half-page description of river fog that show more Dickens would have envied) and the way the procedural was as much a vehicle for the characters as for the plot. I'm a sucker for a big lummoxy lunks of a protagonist and Joe Barrow charmed me from the start. Everyone comes with a streak of ambiguity (something Dickens wouldn't have appreciated). It's a grown-up book.

It's odd how jazz, a kind of music I mostly don't like, is the only kind of music I seem to enjoy reading descriptions of. The jazz writing and extended musical imagery in this novel are fucking phenomenal. show less

Spufford imagines the U.S. in 1922 with 3 fewer states than ours in that year, though still with Prohibition, and Jazz, and a Red Scare helping shape Federal politics. Harding is President. A recent war in France, seemingly broadly similar to ours, but also an active war in Novaya Siburskaya Territorii, to which our veteran protagonists Burrow and Drummond are threatened with being sent by Federal agents. No Nevada, no Idaho, no Utah: instead, the independent Republic of Deseret looms between Colorado and California, and together with the traditional Navajo home of Dinetah, this new American West signals all that has gone differently. Careful examination of the included map reveals other changes, never fully explained. And in the middle show more of that map, surprisingly low profile given all it represents, the very large State of Cahokia fills the space below Illinois, while in place of Oklahoma is found a state labeled SQ, suggesting Sequoyah but never (?) mentioned in the story at all.

A close examination of Spufford's imagined world, reflecting the myriad ways it interrogates ours, would be well worth writing. Spufford's world is nuanced enough and detailed to support a discussion capable of sharpening understanding of our own world, its pitfalls and its untapped possibility.

But such a discussion would largely bypass the story, which itself offers insight. None of Spufford's worldbuilding is foregrounded in the novel: the plot moves along and explicit diversions from our timeline are glimpsed mostly to one side or another, on the walls around the room, in the faces and conversations of onlookers and bystanders. This is to the novel's good. After all, the unfamiliar U.S. is setting, not story. And Spufford tells an engaging story, with interesting if uncomplicated characters, so figuring out just what the angles are (there always are angles to be figured in a noir) easily sustains interest even after the last page is read. And yet: when reflecting on the story's significance, a question niggled. Why this particular story, in this particular world? Why not historical fiction rather than alternate history? Why a crime noir and not, say, a family drama?

Good questions, not answered simply. The novel is not only crime fiction, and not merely alternate history. There is a fair amount of family drama, and history, and politics on offer. Spufford's mystery really could not have worked in any but this setting. But it was only while thinking of how each (the world, the story) insists on being considered seriously when assessing this novel overall, how each leans upon the other, and looking into Spufford's other published works, that I recognized a third aspect of the novel, a red thread not really covered by either of the other two: an abiding evangelism.

Spufford signposts this red thread through reference to the Jesuits: their past works rate mention in his imagined history, Jesuit characters drop in and out of the plot. In light of Spufford's other work, however, this Christian theme seems distinct from other facets of his alternate history. Other readers suggest (and Spufford in interviews to some extent acknowledges) a prevailing interest in different perspectives on Christianity, and specifically the utility of such inquiry for a Christian -- as opposed to new perspectives on secular American culture, or directed to indigenous individuals living here. Perhaps most suggestive, if this interest indeed predominates the story, is the denouement: Burrow's decision (to father a child, but not be its father); Drummond's soliloquy ("We're not awake, Joe. Fact, I'm not sure we're even alive ..." [429]); the final chapter's stigmata theater.

Alternate history to inform today's evangelist! -- such a possibility arrived as something of a surprise, despite the straightforward inclusion of Jesuit characters and missions, and yet as a more fitting summary of the novel than any other occurring to me. This unexpected fittingness also demonstrates the relative heft of the novel compared to many other alternate history stories out there. Probably worth a second reading. show less

Spufford has equalled his excellent novel of old New York, Golden Hill, with a tale set in a 1920s America whose Native American people, never decimated by disease as in our world, maintained their civilizations and came to a significantly different accommodation with the European invaders. The former nation of Cahokia, its capital city across the river from the tiny village of St. Louis, chose to enter the Union as a state in the nineteenth century and is now a bustling center of commerce and a crossroads to the Western states. Detective Joe Barrow, an Indian but an outsider with origins in a Nebraska orphanage, and his white partner Phineas Drummond come across the body of a white man “sacrificed” in grisly fashion at the top of show more the city’s tallest skyscraper. Was it the work of radical Native nationalists? Or of a cabal of white supremacists stoking the flames of racial tension?

Barrow and Drummond’s investigation has them interviewing everyone from wealthy industrialists to witch doctors, from Klan members to hereditary (but now ceremonial) royalty. All have both open and secret agendas, and no one is entirely who they seem to be. Can the murder be solved before the KKK marches into the central plaza and the city breaks down into chaos?

This being by Spufford, the noir setup frames a story about the individual and his responsibility to respond to the moral failings of his time. In Golden Hill, the issue was the slave trade. In Cahokia Jazz, the issue, put most simply, is race—but more broadly, the balance one must find between loyalty to individuals and loyalty to one’s people. It’s difficult to describe how rich this book is in world-building detail, how emotionally convincing, how vivid in painting a Jazz Age metropolis that’s like Chicago but also like nothing we’ve seen: a city that makes the real-life cultural fusion of New Orleans seem simple by comparison.

Spufford keeps writing the books that I would try to write if I were a writer, and writing them better than anyone could humanly expect. show less

I have read one other Francis Spufford novel, and it was a terrrific historical novel - I'm very particular about historical novels. This one is a bit different, as it is set in 1922 but in an alternate timeline in which there is a state of Cahokia, capital city Cahokia, that is majority American Indian, and where Indians have more political and economic power than they ever had in our timeline. For some reason, they are also mostly devout Roman Catholics. There is racism here, but it runs three ways - black, white, and Indian. The KKK is here, too, as awful as you expect them to be. Spufford makes this place very real, as he has done with historical fiction. I don't know any Indian languages beyond a few Pennsylvania place names, but show more the casual terms that are thrown around in Anopa (the local Indian language) was pretty convincing. The protagonist, policeman Joe Barrow, was raised in an orphanage. While he looks Indian, he knows nothing about Indian language or traditions. He finds himself with loyalties divided between his duties as a policeman, his growing attachment to his Indian heritage, and his desire to be a jazz pianist. Spufford somehow manages to pull all this off, make us care for his characters and their moral conundrums, and believe in this strange but very recognizable place. show less

Francis Spufford’s imagination astounds!

I first had read his I May Be Some Time: Ice and the English Imagination, which I savoured for its gorgeous writing and its insight. Then, he wrote the novel On Golden Hill in the style of 18th c novels by Henry Fielding and his sister Sarah. Then he astounded with Perpetual Light, imagining the lives children would have lived had they not been killed in a horrible accident.

Now, he has given us an alternate history/noir novel with Cahokia Jazz.

Spufford imagines a New World visited first by a less deadly smallpox virus, leaving the indigenous population immunized. With a healthy Native American presence they were able to establish their own state in the middle of the continent where native, show more black, and white are equal. The Jesuits converted the Native Americans by overlaying Christian ideas on the native myths. The land is not privately owned, with limited time leases for its use. And, there are the figureheads of a king and his princess sister.

The white immigrants from the North come for jobs but bring their racial prejudices, and the Klan is a strong organization.

The novel begins with the horrific murder of a white man, found with his heart torn out in imitation of ancient Aztec ritual killings. The whites flee the state, and those who remain are ready to riot against the Native American government.

Detective Barrow, a Native American who grew up in an orphanage, is on the case. Identified as Thrown-Away Boy, a hero in native legend, he is given access to the royal palace, and encountering the beautiful princess, falls in love.

It is a novel rich in detail and character, a great mystery, if not a fast reading page-turner, with interesting red herrings and twists. Its immensely entertaining in the way a murder mystery or alternative history can be, but also reflects our contemporary world’s ills. (One character suggests that the Klan army marching to attack the seat of government were really Jesuits out to stir up trouble!) Plus there is a love story! And scenes in a jazz lounge, with Barrow pounding out Jelly Roll Morton’s “Kansas City Stomp”. And a spunky secretary who staples the hand of a man who goosed her one time too many.

Then, there is the great noir style writing. “His voice was a Boston Brahmin Drawl, with vowels as aristocratically deformed as if an ottoman has been dragged on top of them.” “Muscle work was a stupid thing for a pianist to get involved in.” “Their money was so old that it underlay the United States like geology.”

My faith in Spufford reinforced, I will read anything the man writes.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book. show less

I love a counterfactual history in which colonialism didn't grind down so much of the world! Upon finding out that Francis Spufford, whose writing I consistently enjoy, had written such a novel I was very excited. And [b:Cahokia Jazz|75584918|Cahokia Jazz|Francis Spufford|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1687530730l/75584918._SY75_.jpg|100913371] lived up to my high expectations. Although the plot was exciting and I wanted to know what happened, I found myself spacing out my reading in order to stay in the fascinating city of Cahokia for as long as possible. While events in the novel combine murder mystery with mythic archetypes to excellent effect, the whole thing is wonderfully drenched in noir show more tropes. Very few writers manage to channel Raymond Chandler so well without descending into parody:

Barrow tried to light a cigarette and discovered that he already had one alight in his mouth.
"What the hell is happening out there?" he said.
"Take a breath, son," said Doyle. "Everyone's got people they care about at risk, today."

The protagonist Joe Barrow is a police detective rather than a private dick, investigating a gruesome murder that sparks off Klu Klux Klan rioting in a city where Takouma (native American), Taklousa (black African-American), and Takata (white European-Americans) coexist in relative peace. I loved the atmosphere, world-building, and action. Cahokia really comes to life as Barrow travels around by tram, car, and on foot encountering millionaire industrialists, the Takouma royal family, speakeasy jazz bands, hired goons, journalists, other untrustworthy types, and attractive women who all want to sleep with him. I'll allow that last one as it's a noir tradition and is handled gracefully here. The female characters all have their reasons for liking Barrow (who does indeed come off as appealing) so it isn't just the Protagonist Effect. He fact that he's ambivalent about being a cop and much better at being a jazz pianist helps. The narrative's pacing is also excellent, as the narrative spans a particularly eventful week and each day is given a chapter.

At the beginning of the book there are two maps, always a good sign. The first allows the reader to visualise Barrow's travels through the city and the second to locate Cahokia within North America, so I was delighted with them. I looked up a current map of US states to compare. Nevada, Utah, and Idaho are the mormon 'Republic of Deseret'. Washington is British Oregon. Alaska is Novasibirskaya Territorii. And between Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tenessee, and Mississippi is an additional state, Cahokia. In an afterword, Spufford reveals where Cahokia's history diverged from ours and refers to events after the novel's ending, which added to this alternate history's great charm.

While the world-building was undoubtedly the most pleasurable part of [b:Cahokia Jazz|75584918|Cahokia Jazz|Francis Spufford|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1687530730l/75584918._SY75_.jpg|100913371], I was also very impressed with the characterisation and plot. The ending has a gorgeously inevitable symmetry; indeed the novel has a beautifully tidy structure. Barrow's death at the end, sacrificing himself in order to prevent his former partner assassinating Cahokia's figurehead, is tragic yet magnificent. He has fallen into a mythic story from which he cannot escape by leaving to be a jazz pianist and becomes a sacrifice to allow Cahokia a peaceful future. Such is the wonderful vividness of the city that the reader can understand why Barrow would willingly do this. Barrow isn't the main character at all; the city of Cahokia is. It's a beguiling place that will linger in my mind for a long time. There are very few writers who appear equally adept at writing nonfiction history, historical fiction, and alternative history fiction. Spufford is the only example I can think of and I found [b:Cahokia Jazz|75584918|Cahokia Jazz|Francis Spufford|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1687530730l/75584918._SY75_.jpg|100913371] an absolute joy to read. show less

This is a noir murder mystery, set in the 1920s in an alternate history where the Native American city of Cahokia was never abandoned, and was also never fully integrated into the United States. The city is still ruled by Native Americans. The main character is detective Barrow, a large Native American man who is initially known more for his brawl than his brains, but circumstances require him to put his intelligence to use. He did not grow up in Cahokia, so a lot of Cahokia's ways are foreign to him, which makes him a good character for the reader to follow, so that we can learn about Cahokia's culture as he does.

As a noir mystery, this book is fantastic: the mystery is truly surprising, with lots of twists and turns that end up show more involving a lot of powerful people. On top of that, the world-building is thoughtful, thorough, and adds extra dimensions to the mystery. The characters are well-developed and lively. Parts of the book get a little bit sappy, but that's fitting with the noir genre. This is one of those delightful books that is not only very entertaining and engaging, but also very well-written. show less