In his novel 1812: The Rivers Of War, author and labor union advocate Eric Flint postulated the intriguing notion of Arkansas being made into an independent nation as a consequence of the War of 1812. As great as Rivers Of War was, however, the concept of Arkansas as a sovereign country truly takes off in Flint’s sequel, 1824: The ArkansasWar. In that book, as the subtitle hints, the Arkansas Confederacy is compelled to defend its hard-won independence from its larger eastern neighbor, the United States. While you don’t necessarily have to read 1812 to appreciate 1824, it certainly makes following the action that much easier when you’ve got the appropriate background information on
the main players.

1824 opens about nine years after the end of the War of 1812, as the United States is struggling to come to terms with the existence of the Arkansas Confederacy and the Confederacy in turn is struggling to gain respect and recognition as a sovereign country. Patrick Driscoll, the Irishman responsible for leading the successful fight to make his adopted homeland a sovereign state, has a whole new set of challenges to face as he works both to enhance the Arkansas Confederacy’s place in the company of nations and to preserve the bonds of the family he has established in the Confederacy’s capital of Little Rock. Not the least of those challenges is trying to organize a workable defense of Arkansas against pro-slavery elements in the United States that want to take back the AC-- which declared its independence in the aftermath of the events of 1812 --so they can make it into a slaveholding state.

From there things get, to say the least, very interesting as the AC confronts the USA and vice versa. The cast of 1824 is as diverse as the countryside in which Flint’s narrative plays out; to list the full roster of historical personalities who turn up in this book would require its own article, but suffice it to say that Andrew Jackson looms large in the main story, as do Henry Clay, John Ross, and Jean Lafitte. There’s even some memorable guest turns by the famous voodoo queen Marie Laveau, lending a touch of New Orleans to the events in Arkansas.

The action starts out early and never lets up. This book is a perfect read for anyone who’s enjoyed 1901 or Harry Turtledove’s GreatWar/American Empire series. Whether Flint plans to write a third book set in the Arkansas Confederacy timeline I don’t know, but if he does I’ll be eager to read it, because I’m very interested to find out what direction of the course of AC history will take next.