The Baroque Cycle is the trilogy of the three big books by Neil Stephenson: Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World. Each a monumental effort by itself. Each a 1000 pager. They all deal with a very significant time in the evolvement of Western civilization and are intricately “period detailed” by Stephenson. Great for a long winter. Prepare for an immersion.
The Baroque period, 1650—1750, is pivotal in Europe’s shifting from the Dark Ages into The Enlightenment. Only just preceded by Copernicus (earth around the sun) and Martin Luther (start of inter- church rebellion), this era highlights a scientific revolution of “natural philosophers” led by Isaac Newton. This occurs in a nearly constantly warring Europe directed by Ruling Royalties emerging from a complex hierarchy of bloodlines and title and fueled by bitter religious rivalries between Puritan, Protestant, and Catholic factions. God save the king.
Historical novels are, if accurately researched and intriguingly written, a wonderful way to assimilate our past and try to figure out who we are by where we came from. Stephenson did massive research, and he does write an intriguing story. Much of the text is seen through the eyes of his 3 primary creations: Daniel Waterhouse (college roommate of Newton), Jack Shaftoe (“king of the vagabonds” and amiable criminal mastermind), and Eliza (beautiful countess and former harem prisoner who involves herself fully into secret agency, court politics, economic theory and wealth acquisition). And these are live, carnally explicit storytellers. From Dr. Waterhouse’s description of gruesome “scientific” animal vivisection and his own kidney stone surgery, to Jack’s story of getting his name “half-cocked Jack” via an interrupted primitive gonorrhea treatment, to Eliza’s tales of royal pornographic sleigh riding and arranged child conceiving and subsequent child bearing…these are storytellers that command full attention.
A warning however to casual readers: there are lengthy scientific and historical digressions. From other reviews, Baroque enthusiasts find this demonstrative of phenomenal historical research. To the less “era-enthused”, it gets in the way of the story. To my view, it’s worth making your way through the digressions. Mostly, anyway. If the books do occasionally suffer from an information glut, they are set right again by a grab-you-by-your-body-part story and a wild assortment of characters. There are pirates and prisons and slave traders. There are money system makers, royalty power brokers, and impassioned truthseekers wearing robes of alchemy or natural philosophy or Biblical fulfillment. Real life historical greats are interspersed throughout. Blackbeard the pirate, King Billy of Orange and Peter the Great of Russia become more real. Nearly all of the scientists and royalty are historically accurate.
And you’re sure to learn something that you didn’t think you could—or maybe didn’t think you wanted to. Facts about quicksilver, or phosphorus, or alchemy. Or the way our modern banking system evolved. Or our prison system. Or legal system. I knew that Sir Isaac Newton has been labeled a mathematical genius, with perhaps only Einstein worthy of comparison. I didn’t know about his German rival Gottfreid Leibniz and their feud as to who first invented calculus. Or that both were deeply, though incompatibly, religious. Or that Newton was an avowed alchemist—believing in the existence of a heavier, biblical, gold of King Solomon. Or that he spent the last 30 years of his life as Master of the Mint in London—this in hopes of discovery of said “Solomonic Gold.” And this is the guy who first told us about gravity, and practically every other law of physics.
Lots of history and lots of story here. Thanks to Gordy Cross for introducing them to Jim Abbott and thanks to librarian Micki for obtaining them via a "volunteer request." The books don’t necessarily have to be read in order, as there are preludes to the 2nd and 3rd books. Wintertime is a good time for immersion in a big fat historical novel. Learn something about 300 years ago that makes us what we are today.