Neal Stephenson’s Quicksilver tips the scales at over a thousand pages. None of these pages are wasted in the telling of the tale, as the subject matter concerns the foundation of the Royal Society. The Royal Society oftentimes takes the name of the “secret college” before it becomes the Royal Society, and is littered with alchemists that, after a long period of study, mostly advance what we would normally term modern science. Not all of them do this, of course, and there are fractures within the camps as to who continues to study Alchemy and who goes on to study the “natural sciences” and becomes a “natural philosopher”.
All the characters such as Enoch Root and Daniel Waterhouse make their appearance here, but what is perhaps more accentuated than normal is Waterhouse’s entire eye and purpose toward understanding the Apocalypse and preparing himself accordingly to the task. Indeed, one could examine the years around 1666 as a kind of miniature apocalypse with the fire of London and all the jostling about in royal society between warring powers of Catholicism and Protestantism. Whether or not Daniel Waterhouse wants to be, it seems he is always at a place or near a character that will shape future world events.
There is, of course, the matter of Eliza who is a Turkish sex slave who is rescued by Jack Shaftoe, which we of course see the linkages of and foreshadowings of the Shaftoe family in the Cryptonomicon. The brothers Jack and Bob Shaftoe start out providing a “service” for condemned men. They both hang on the legs of those who are not killed quickly by design of putting on a show in the judicial system of England under Charles the II. The extra weight causes the condemned to die quicker than they otherwise would, as their executioner is none other than Jack Ketch. Jack Shaftoe also has syphilis and is generally a quasi “Judas” anti-hero character. Indeed, Jack shares a lot in common with the plotline of the movie The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly when it comes to nooses and their removal. Jack, however, falls in love with Eliza, a Turkish harem sex slave that he, despite himself, rescues. Their romance is blocked by a thousand differing elements, and we are left with neither of them being on good terms with the other.
Eliza, on the other hand, becomes proficient at the handling of money in Amsterdam and meets Daniel Waterhouse and Leibniz and becomes a type of spy for Lebiniz and then later a double agent for William of Orange. Through the course of her duties, she is carried through many courts most often at the behest of William of Orange.
One of the issues with reading Quicksilver is that it is almost too ambitious of an undertaking in that it jumps in time and through family relations rapidly. There is continuity, for certain, but it becomes hard to tell sometimes who is writing to whom and why. This is partly caused by the plentiful titles and characters in the book and it is a certainty that heraldry was important in those times and so when one is going to write about the era one is naturally going to have large amounts of family trees whether one wants to or not. It is this knitting, however, which is time independent, which jumps about that makes it sometimes difficult to follow. The switchout from the focus being on Jack Shaftoe to his brother Bob is also irritating. One understands the necessity in terms of the narrative, but it is one more character that becomes easy to confuse with Jack. Of course, Jack and Bob are supposed to be aspects of Robert Shaftoe in Cryptonomicon which are really commentaries if anything on ‘treacherous Albion’ in general and the progression of the spy game throughout academia and time.
We also meet other characters famous throughout history and science such as Isaac Newton, Robert Hooke, and John Churchill. Present as well are John Wilkes and many other famous names that became synonymous with the Royal Society. The material is rich, deep and well-researched. What is not quite as pleasant to read is the fixation on homosexuality and speculation about who is or who is not a homosexual in the book. For instance, more than once, Newton, a Puritan, is alluded to as being a homosexual. Likewise, it is heavily implied William of Orange is, at the very least, bisexual. While it is a fact many varied sexual orientations have existed in Royal lineages throughout time, it is also factual that such accusations were used as smears against one’s opponents. Either way, Quicksilver at times reads like some kind of historical romance for same sex relationships or in a few instances outright torture. Perhaps Stephenson needed some spice to keep the reader interested in the world of espionage, but the reading would have gone as well if not better without all the supposition of who is or who is not homosexual.
Having read the work, it is difficult to form a solid opinion about it in that it leaves many unanswered questions which is to be expected since it is part of a three-volume set. At times, it is a brilliant read. At other times, it feels like one is only learning about all the possible dark motives of anyone who was ever ‘historically significant’. At times, one hates Daniel Waterhouse. At other times, one can sympathize. The Royal College is made out to be somewhat ghastly with how and what they dissect and on average, the entire novel feels like some gothic, vampiric tale. It is not that such energies were not present–it is simply that they were not the only ones and the real stories are more interesting than any foisted, imagined, lavish yarn. It feels that Stephenson, like Icarus, flies too close to the sun and has his wax-literary-wings melt. Then, just when you think the narrative will not recover, another ascent begins and the process starts anew.
The novel could be condensed and summarized as “This is not the apocalypse Daniel Waterhouse expected, but it is the one he got anyway.” The reader, in reading this work, might feel about the same upon completion of the novel. There is definitely an air of “to be continued” and one is left with many dangling questions.!
They referred to it as “Sacricide”. This term perhaps reflects the entirety of the story contained in this book. The planned kidnapping/murder of George Washington was thought of in the same manner as killing something sacred. It is clear that to the Revolutionary soldiers that were to fight the battles that would ultimately win independence from Britain, something about George Washington went beyond the standard definition of a man.
Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch do a fair job of telling the tale. The transitions often times feel somewhat forced between chapters but this is because the writing style has adopted the curious technique of indicating the events to the reader as happening in their present time. The reader is “brought into” the story as though they are experiencing it ‘right now’. This then, therefore, demands some chapter transitions that have a bit of an old-time radio feel to them in that they feel like cliffhangers and their resolutions. Perhaps this switch to a more active voice was intentional to make the history seem “more alive”. Of course, after the present period of ‘conspiracy theory’ explosions and false information and fake news, the effect might be unnecessary. During Washington’s time as per the governor of the New York colonies working for Britain–Tryon–might have said “One need pay no heed to all these false conspiracies.” Of course, Tryon was plotting and planning vigorously. Indeed, whether Tryon or the Mayor of New York is more responsible for the plot is hard to know. The Mayor, David Mathews, later, in Canada, admits that he helped formed the plot after, of course, protesting his innocence to save his own skin. The truth is, both men stood to lose much if the colonies became independent and so naturally, they would have been willing to avail themselves of all schemes to try hang on to their positions and privileges.
We therefore are not thrust into conspiracy theory with this book but conspiracy fact. One is struck, if they are familiar with history, with the similarities between the story concerning Washington and this proposed plot, and the later version of events that occur with Lincoln. The idea of “kidnapping” Lincoln was also put forth, but in fact an execution was the outcome. This too was part of an elaborate conspiracy within the government and the army. Indeed, we find that within Washington’s ranks, there are people who are within the most intimate circles of trust that are bought-off by Britain. Washington subsequently must become a very competent spy-master and as history records did so exceedingly well. It is ironic, perhaps, that he does this not so much against the enemy directly, but against the traitors in his own causes that have no loyalties to anything other than their wallets.
The scholarship is not lacking in this telling of the tale, and it does put to rest some “legends” concerning Washington or attempts to. There is the story that during the war Washington’s own housekeeper was a spy, and so through various nefarious means someone attempted to poison his peas. A young girl in the household notices this and throws the peas out the window where the chickens eat the peas and die. Meltzer and Mensch tell us that these tales are fiction or at least their research does not support the event. Of course, we know that there are other tellings of Presidents being poisoned such as Zachary Taylor’s bowl of cherries and iced milk that may or may not have been poisoned leading to his eventual death.
We also learn how a ring of would-be counterfeiters plays into both the plot to kill Washington and also its resolution. Regular people, it seems, are being sucked into all manner of happenings due to their circumstance and their way of trying to cope with it. Once caught, almost no one tells the truth, and those that do are not believed simply because no one else is forthcoming.
Another interesting piece in the book concerns the condition of the army that Washington must train. When Washington arrives, the army is literally in rags. Perhaps this contributes to the almost “divine status” attributed to Washington since he takes this army and gradually forms it into something capable of prevailing over the British.
By way of illustration, we learn how Washington handles the incoming invasion of New York. The authors note that though it does not make for a great story, Washington loses and escapes into the night with his army. Before this though, Washington and his men manage to smuggle some cannons into position in Boston at the battle of Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill. The way in which this happens is nothing short of incredible, as the effort required is immense– stretching the bounds of credulity. This living to fight another day and unexpected victories, the British learn and the book notes, become hallmarks of Washington’s military strategy and ultimate success. If there is anything Washington is good at even though he is inexperienced as a commander, it is, we are told, knowing when he is beaten and when it is time to leave the battlefield.
If you are a casual reader of history, this book will interest you. If you are accustomed to reading history, some of the tone in the book may be off-putting since it has a flare of sensationalism in timbre. Since the target audience is most likely casual readers of history, the choice makes sense from the perspective of the authors in order to martial more sales by widening the potential audience. It does not hurt the scholarship which often does suffer from trying to engage informal readers.
One wonders what Gordon Welchman might have done or been if there had not been a war, and had he not been invited to Bletchley Park to break German codes. He might still have taught the first computer programming course. Maybe not. The type of thinking that was used in World War II, though, lead almost directly to modern day computers since one required computational power in order to break enciphered messages. Usually, those picked for this task had backgrounds in mathematics although certainly there were also those who had backgrounds in linguistics. Mr. Welchman was a mathematician by training and so received the invite. In his book The Hut Six Story he recounts his time and recollections during his time there at Bletchley. Despite this book being published in 1982, the intelligence agencies of Britain were, apparently, still miffed that he told the tale. Mr. Welchman was certainly not the first to do so but he was seemingly the only one to have his security clearances taken as retaliation. The tone of this book is not that of an author who believes he is disclosing secrets that are not a matter of public record. Rather, he is trying to correct some inconsistencies in the public record as well as add his own perspective.
To be sure, it is not an easy read. Some of this is because the terminology in the book is specific to the Enigma but more than a little of it concerns the language not being standard in the early years of code breaking and electrical engineering. The idea is fresh in the mind of Welchman since he lived it. It is a harder, though, to gain a full picture in this telling, although it is less the author’s fault and more the complicated logic that the Enigma machines were designed to embody that causes the confusion.
We learn that Welchman intuits some ways to break through the Enigma encryption scheme. Most of these methods rely on German mistakes in using the technology. Welchman then begins to organize the apparatuses and methodology and staffing that will allow him to formulate and implement a code-breaking regiment.
Toward the end of the book, we learn that Welchman is more “re-engineering” what some Polish cryptographers had surmised and most likely at the very least Welchman’s senior, Dilly Knox, likely knew something more than Knox let on about these efforts since Knox was himself a component and a quasi-legend as an “Enigma” breaker. Everyone it seems is fighting for credit and recognition concerning who broke Enigma and when. One gets the feeling, however, that Welchman really is not after any of that. He seems, initially at least, just to enjoy the thought of being able to break the codes.
There are a million interesting points in the book concerning figures like Turing and interactions and conversations that were occurring in the breaking of these ciphers. Most interestingly, Welchman reflects back on his time at Bletchley as some of the happiest time in his life and mentions that the same was true for many others who worked there. Perhaps it was the unified feeling of facing a common foe and having a sense of purpose that drove everyone to do more than they might normally was the cause of this feeling. Clearly, later on, it is not the case when Welchman publishes this work. The valued asset has become the liability. This permutation is a shame because it is evidently clear that the man loved doing the work he did.
Welchman eventually becomes a mechanical engineer predominately and oversees the construction of the “bombes” which are machines that aid in helping to break enigma codes. These machines work by brute force and by anticipating “cribs” or stylistic elements of messages that are likely to be present and therefore act as a kind of sanity check for any potential deciphers. Welchman also realizes some shortcuts that can be introduced to the calculation of the “bombes” by way of realizing the fact that some letters are encoded in a two-way relation to one another. Put bluntly if A, then B, and if B, then A. The realization involves a time factor from days to hours before potential breaks could occur.
Eventually Welchman comes to the United States and becomes a US citizen. He works for a corporation called The Mitre Corporation which specializes in secure communications for the US military. Not much of this work is discussed, but Welchman does discuss some prescient matters that he considers key if we are to keep our communication secure moving forward. Many of these issues are still present today, and involve mistakes human beings make when they are dealing with complex codes. One gets lazy, for instance, and might not scramble the settings sufficiently or else they might transmit the same message with two separate settings which allow for greater understanding and breakthroughs for those who wish to decipher such messages. Many of these insights in the computer age are self-apparent, but they were not at the start of WWII and certainly were not as evident in 1982. The weakest link in any encryption scheme will always be human beings.
Welchman dies not long after this book is published in 1985. There is a strong indication that this death might have come from being broken-hearted about his treatment after publishing this account.
Though this reading is very dry at times, it is a must for any serious student of WWII and encryption or even modern computer programming. Once one begins to adapt the language to a more modern idiom, the kinds of problems Welchman tackles are still the ones being tackled today.
