The Whiskey Rebels: A Novel

by David Liss (Goodreads author)

book data

369 ratings, 3.88 average rating, 162 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		21%
4		51%
3		21%
2		4%
1		1%

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published

September 30th 2008 by Random House

binding

Hardcover, 519 pages

isbn

1400064201 (isbn13: 9781400064205)

description

David Liss’s bestselling historical thrillers, including A Conspiracy of Paper and The Coffee Trader, have been called remarkable and rousing: the per...more

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09/12/08

Spuddie rated it:

Read in September, 2008

Historical fiction set in the immediate post-Revolutionary War period in Philadelphia and New York. The story is told from the point of view of two people: Ethan Saunders, a disgraced spy, and Joan Maycott, a young woman with literary aspirations. Ethan’s story begins in the present time while Joan’s starts in the past with her early life. Her and Ethan’s paths begin their fateful crossing when she and her husband Andrew trade in his war debt for a parcel of land in western Pennsylvania, w...more Historical fiction set in the immediate post-Revolutionary War period in Philadelphia and New York. The story is told from the point of view of two people: Ethan Saunders, a disgraced spy, and Joan Maycott, a young woman with literary aspirations. Ethan’s story begins in the present time while Joan’s starts in the past with her early life. Her and Ethan’s paths begin their fateful crossing when she and her husband Andrew trade in his war debt for a parcel of land in western Pennsylvania, which was in essence the great frontier at that time. They find to their horror that they have been horribly cheated and Joan begins plotting revenge against all who have wronged her.

Ethan, meanwhile, in Philadelphia in 1791, is content to be a sloshing drunk and occasional thief, drowning his sorrows at being disgraced and (wrongfully) branded a traitor and his loss of the love of his life, Cynthia Fleet, to another man, and her father who was his co-conspirator as a government spy, who died in disgrace with him. I can’t say too much without giving important things away, so I won’t, but eventually Joan and Ethan’s paths cross, and the stability of the whole of the new United States of America rests on what happens.

Let me say right up front that this time period in American history is NOT one of my special interests. I generally just don’t care for it, haven’t read much about it, so I have no idea how much of what the author imparts here is pure speculation, pure fiction and which parts are based on solid fact. There are many “real” historical figures in this book, but I have no knowledge of whether their portrayals were accurate. The book also dealt in large part with banking, finance and the early days of what became eventually the stock market, which, on the master lists of things I’m interested in, falls right down there near the bottom with politics, knitting sweaters for yappy little dogs and designer handbags. LOL

That said, once I discovered what the book was about, it rather amazed me that I DID keep reading—and I did so because the author made the characters and the story itself irresistible. I surmised rather early on that the lives of these two characters would intersect, I just wasn’t sure when and how, and I wanted to find out! The book is a little slow and plodding in some parts and the plot was twisty and quite complicated—which, I suppose was ultimately what kept me reading. That, and wanting to find out what ultimately happened to the main characters. But I have found this slowness to be true of Liss’s other books as well—and yet, when done reading and reflecting back, I have to say that I don’t remember those slow points much and tend to think on the story as a whole as a very interesting, engaging one. Liss does not sugarcoat life in post-Revolutionary war America, and portrays it as the difficult, sometimes brutal, often fatal life that it was. Recommended especially for those who enjoy historical fiction in this time period, anyone interested in the early days of the U.S. banking system, and for those who’ve read and enjoyed the author’s previous works. A- or four-and-a-half stars.(less)

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09/16/08

Richard rated it:

bookshelves: latest-reads

Read in September, 2008

The Whiskey Rebels

I’ll tell you right off, I hate novels that are written in alternating chapters. My complaint is that one story is never allowed to develop without the interruption of another story, and though David Liss is a skillful writer, and the stories eventually intersect quite artfully, I still think it’s a lazy way to put a novel together. I know, I know, “try it yourself and see how easy it is…” Well, no, I won’t, but that doesn’t make it any less an irri...more

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08/21/08

Carrie rated it:

Read in September, 2008

This was another Early Reviewer book and the second I've read by Liss. He writes historical fiction and this particular book is set in America, shortly after the end of the Revolutionary War and deals with actual historical events and figures from the time. I thought it was really well written, and I found it much more engaging than The Coffee Trader, his other novel that I have read. (The Coffee Trader wasn't bad, I just found it dull at times). In any event, this book was quite good and has ma...more

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12/10/08

Christa rated it:

bookshelves: library

Read in December, 2008

The Whiskey Rebels takes place after the American Revolution. The primary characters are fictional, and many of the minor characters are prominent historical figures. The storyline was very interesting, and is written in the first person from the perspective of two different characters. One main character, Ethan Saunders, appears at the beginning of the book to be about as unlikely a hero as could be found. Ethan's story is told in alternating chapters with that of the other major character, ...more The Whiskey Rebels takes place after the American Revolution. The primary characters are fictional, and many of the minor characters are prominent historical figures. The storyline was very interesting, and is written in the first person from the perspective of two different characters. One main character, Ethan Saunders, appears at the beginning of the book to be about as unlikely a hero as could be found. Ethan's story is told in alternating chapters with that of the other major character, Joan Maycott, a young woman whose adult life has been filled with tragedy. Joan's story begins a few years earlier than that of Ethan, and it is well into the book before their stories intersect.

Ethan Saunders, former American spy, has been living in disgrace for ten years, after being wrongly accused of being a traitor. He wallows in his shame, and becomes almost as dishonorable as most people have believed him. He is stunned to suddenly be immersed in intrigue involving prominent political figures after his long ago fiance unexpectedly contacts him when her husband goes missing. Ethan is soon absorbed in sorting out the puzzle before him, and his long dormant acuity begins to surface. He soon realizes that the future of the nation rests with his ability to thwart an underhanded plot.

Joan Maycott led an uneventful life until she and her affectionate husband, Andrew, are led by an unscrupulous speculator to trade the promissory notes due him as a Revolutionary Soldier for land on the Pennsylvania frontier. When the land turns out to be nothing as promised, and they find they have not even traded for the land but only the right to live there, Joan and Andrew rise to the occasion and forge a new life for themselves. Andrew uses his knowledge as a carpenter to form a partnership with a couple of whiskey makers, and they are soon distilling the best whiskey in the land. Joan's life is shattered when Andrew is murdered shortly after Alexander Hamilton imposes a whiskey tax on distillers. Joan decides that the government is corrupt and responsible for the loss of everything important to her. She convinces a couple of friends to help her gain revenge.

This was a very good book. I enjoyed the story and the characters, but found it rather strange that the character I didn't care for in the beginning, Ethan, was the one that I was most sympathetic to in the end. Joan, who I liked much better at the beginning of the book, was not as appealing to me at the end. Although I liked the only other book I have read by this author, The Coffee Trader, I found this one much more enjoyable. I will definitely be reading more by David Liss.(less)

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03/21/09

Scot rated it:

Read in June, 2009

For historical fiction fans who enjoy a plotline rather complicated with intrigue, usually offering opportunity for some reflection on how the forces of capitalism affected political and social change in another time and place, David Liss is an author you need to check out. I thoroughly enjoyed one of his earlier books, A Spectacle of Corruption, and looked forward to this volume with some eagerness, as western Pennsylvania has long been dear to me, and I anticipated a tale offering a view of p...more For historical fiction fans who enjoy a plotline rather complicated with intrigue, usually offering opportunity for some reflection on how the forces of capitalism affected political and social change in another time and place, David Liss is an author you need to check out. I thoroughly enjoyed one of his earlier books, A Spectacle of Corruption, and looked forward to this volume with some eagerness, as western Pennsylvania has long been dear to me, and I anticipated a tale offering a view of politics, daily life, and social customs in late eighteenth century Pittsburgh.

There is some of that, however, the focus of the novel is not on the Whiskey Rebellion itself, which actually occurred in 1794, but rather on the development of banking and commercial trade under Alexander Hamilton’s influence in the period 1789-1792. Much of the story transpires in Philadelphia, which was the nation’s temporary capital while the city of Washington was being built. Some chapters do present life in transit to Pittsburgh and New York, and the very dissimilar lives people led in those two places in this period.

The tale is told by two very different narrators, in alternating chapters, and though their concerns and experiences seem worlds apart at first, as the book goes on Liss adroitly weaves their plotlines more closely together, so when we get to the ultimate climax (after about 500 pages) we have very layered understandings of the range of perspectives and concerns in a significant confrontation, and everything comes to a head. One of the narrators is Ethan Saunders, a dashing rapscallion and former spy for the patriot forces during the American Revolution, while the other is Joan Maycott, a deep thinking and formidable woman not afraid to take on a challenge. Part of the charm of any historical fiction is when and how we encounter real historical characters worked into the story, and the ability of the author to present these persons in a complex yet fair way, so we see them as well rounded characters and not just flat ones, given the story’s structure, but also as accurate (as much as possible) given what knowledge the readers might have of the historical moment. As expected, Liss does a fine job here, and among the recognizable figures we meet for those conversant with the Federalist period are Hugh Henry Brackenridge, Aaron Burr, Anne Bingham, Philip Freneau, and of course General Washington himself. In addition, I was quite pleased to see some positive sidekick characters (representing people of African descent in one case, Jews in another, and those involved in same sex relationships in a third) who would have truly been present in some of the historical situations described. Let me also mention, Saunders’ witty dialogue as he encounters a wide array of scoundrels, dangers, and ordeals is often delightful. There is one truly vile villain, so worthy of a theatre full of hisses at a melodrama, that I now realize I enjoyed his continuing and growing evils, confident that the more I came to hate him, the sweeter would be his demise.
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09/30/08

Mark rated it:

bookshelves: fiction, historical-fiction

Read in December, 2008

Part potboiler, part history lesson, part financial treatise, part love story, part adventure tale, this highly entertaining novel by Goodreads author David Liss takes us back to the early days of America in the 1790s, when Alexander Hamilton was setting up the Bank of the United States, America was developing its first stock markets, and the frontier border was in the rugged woods of Western Pennsylvania.

"The Whiskey Rebels" is based on real historical events -- not ...more
Part potboiler, part history lesson, part financial treatise, part love story, part adventure tale, this highly entertaining novel by Goodreads author David Liss takes us back to the early days of America in the 1790s, when Alexander Hamilton was setting up the Bank of the United States, America was developing its first stock markets, and the frontier border was in the rugged woods of Western Pennsylvania.

"The Whiskey Rebels" is based on real historical events -- not only a financial crisis that struck American speculators in 1792, but Hamilton's highly contentious tax on whiskey manufactured by the frontier people of Western Pennsylvania, which eventually led to a brief rebellion that was put down by federal troops.

Despite some occasionally melodramatic foreshadowing, Liss knows how to weave an intricate tale, keep the story moving, and hold both the readers who like a plot-driven adventure and those who are drawn by a story of love lost and regained. And he does it with a very clever construction: two interwoven subplots following the two main characters, Ethan Saunders, a Revolutionary War veteran who has become a drunkard since being drummed out of the Army on false charges relating to his work as a colonial spy, and Joan Maycott, a woman who wants to write the first American novel but who has gone west with her carpenter husband, where they make fast friends but also encounter disaster. What's clever is not the interweaving device so much as the fact that Joan's story predates Ethan's and doesn't catch up with his plot until well into the book.

Along the way, you will learn about whiskey making, pioneer life, the upper crust and seedier levels of Philadelphia society, the trade in bank stocks and government securities (never told didactically) and the details of early American life, from transportation to clothing to weaponry to food to drink (and plenty of it).

This is a wonderful read and is by far the most ambitious of Liss's novels. A page turner with benefits.(less)

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2 comments

06/10/08

Kirk rated it:

Read in August, 2008

recommended to Kirk by: Me - previously read Liss and loved it
recommends it for: fiction lovers/Historical Fiction

So I wrote this about a month ago:

Looking forward to reading what I'm guessing is going to be another great historical fiction - this time set in the early founding days of the Good ol' USA.

And I was correct - it was both another great historical fiction from David Liss AND set in the early days of the US! A page-turning great historical fiction novel.

Without giving much away the story focuses on early America where going "west" meant Pittsburg. ...more

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12/07/08

Jill rated it:

Read in November, 2008

recommends it for: mystery readers, history buffs

I love Liss's historical novels. This one is about the political atmosphere in the United States preceding the establishing of the first Bank of the United States and the Whiskey Rebellion. The characters are good and the mystery is complex.

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03/18/09

Hugh rated it:

I've never quite understood the pigeonhole of "historical fiction". Is Denis Johnson's "Tree of Smoke" now historical fiction because it's set during the Vietnam War?

Liss is deeply steeped in the historical details of the post-revolutionary government, but you never find yourself climbing over over-stuffed boxes of information; the story rolls along from the opening pages and really doesn't let up. And given the current state of banks and economic markets it is (i...more

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11/24/08

Tony rated it:

bookshelves: fiction-mainstream

Read in November, 2008

Liss, David. THE WHISKEY REBELS. (2008). ****. Liss is an excellent writer of historical thrillers/mysteries. His book, “A Conspiracy of Paper,” was excellent, and tough to beat with his subsequent efforts – though his second book, “The Coffee Trader,” came close. He has an inventive mind and is capable of interjecting fictional characters into the midst of well-researched historical events. This novel is set in the Federal Period, in the years between 1781 and 1792. The two pr...more Liss, David. THE WHISKEY REBELS. (2008). ****. Liss is an excellent writer of historical thrillers/mysteries. His book, “A Conspiracy of Paper,” was excellent, and tough to beat with his subsequent efforts – though his second book, “The Coffee Trader,” came close. He has an inventive mind and is capable of interjecting fictional characters into the midst of well-researched historical events. This novel is set in the Federal Period, in the years between 1781 and 1792. The two principal players are Ethan Saunders, a disgraced drunk, who was convicted of being a double agent during the War of the Rebellion, and Joan Maycott, the wife of an early settler in Western Pennsylvania – a territory that was on the fringe of the civilized country at the time. The two become adverseries over the fate of Alexander Hamilton’s Bank of the United States – which was in its formative stages. Sounds like a boring premise, but Liss manages to insert enough truth into the drama that we can suddenly see that the events he describes may – although fictionally – have really happened. Hamilton and his bank were very controversial at the time, and were viewed by many as a regression to the ways of the English. One of his first moves was to have the bank assume all of the war debts of the states. These debts were then to be paid off through the sale of securities. In addition, several different excise taxes were imposed, including the hated whiskey tax. For people in Western Pennsylvania, whiskey was a form of money. They had no real currency and no real way of getting any, but used the whiskey they produced to trade among themselves for their needs. There was no way that they could get their goods to the Eastern markets because transport across the Allegheny Mountains was too difficult. Their other complaint was that the government imposed these excise taxes without providing the settlers protection against the indians of the region. The novel is peopled with real characters of the period, including, Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and George Washington. In addition to these, the author also uses such lesser known people as William Duer, Hugh Henry Brackenridge, Philip Freneau, Anne Bingham, and James and Maria Reynolds. He also manages to realistically recreate the settings in colonial Philadelphia and New York. Recommended.(less)

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04/25/09

Mick rated it:

Read in January, 2009

So, you're into historical fiction. And, on occasion, you truly enjoy a political thriller. Yet you also tend to savor a good mystery. Should that be the case--along with the added bonus of engaging, clever writing--may I recommend THE WHISKEY REBELS?

Set in America's infancy--a 1792 that saw the fragile American Experiment in danger of being torn asunder by the Hamiltonian Federalists and the Jeffersonian Republicans--author David Liss presents two protagonists, both with compelling...more

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06/09/09

Bob rated it:

Read in April, 2009

Set post American Revolution it features 2 main characters, Ethan Saunders, a spy during the war but near the end of the war accused of being a traitor and Joan Maycott, a daughter of a farmer who marries a soldier and when he is convinced to give up his promissory note for pay for his service in return for a section of land on the western Pennsylvania frontier moves out with him.
Ethan has become a drunk and womanizer but when his old finance contacts him he becomes involved in trying to ...more

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11/22/08

Sherie_segler rated it:

Read in November, 2008

recommended to Sherie_segler by: Brooke

It isn't often that an author can hold my interest when he has made one of the main characters so unlikeable. But Liss's plot twists and turns with such electric energy that I could not stop.
Saunders has become a throughly self-pitying, self-loathing drunk due to events during the Revolutionary War, when he served as a patriot spy. At the beginning he is drunk and being pursued by someone who means to do him harm. Since he is a main character, he cannot die,so the author saves him with th...more

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01/03/09

Dan rated it:

bookshelves: already-read

Read in January, 2009

Very entertaining historical fiction. I became a fan of David Liss' from the Coffee Trader, but this ranks up there. Similarly, you have to occasionally suspend disbelief when the lead character interacts with Alexander Hamilton and George Washington, but in general, the way fiction and historical fact are weaved together is really clever and does what historical fiction should do: bring a past time to life. A lot fun.

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02/16/09

Amy rated it:

Read in February, 2009

recommends it for: readers of Neal Stephenson's Baroque trilogy

I stole this book from my spouse's to-read pile before he could get to it. I'm glad I did. Liss is skilled at building first-person narrators who possess strong characters, not just loud voices. Liss' strong story-tellers, Ethan Saunders and Joan Maycott, together are central to this book's success. Better yet, Ethan Saunders shows himself to be one of those slippery narrators whose perception, especially self-perception, can't quite trusted. I love that. It proved strange and appropriate to re...more

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01/24/09

Kathy rated it:

Read in February, 2009

An historical fiction, a political thriller, a good mystery, this book has it all! Set in post-Revolution War America, the author fabricates a tale to explain the reckless trading habits that brought about the first American financial panic in early 1792 by tying in the events that led up to the Whiskey Rebellion of 1974. Given my ignorance of history and economics, I had to pay close attention, but enjoyed doing so as I was engrossed with the development of so many great characters. The story ...more

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11/28/08

Marsha rated it:

bookshelves: historical

Read in December, 2008

I gave this book four stars because I really did enjoy reading it throughout, although the NUMEROUS plot twists did make me a little dizzy at times. The book is set between 1781 and 1792 in the newly formed United States, and is narrated by two people. One is Ethan, a disgraced Revolutionary spy who is getting by (barely) on his wits and considerable charm. The other is Joan, an intelligent and purposeful woman, and I can't think of much else to say about her that wouldn't spoil the plot. I ...more

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05/06/09

Julie rated it:

bookshelves: best-of-2009, highly-recommended, historical-fiction, us--historical

Read in June, 2009

recommended to Julie by: Charisse
recommends it for: Bob

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

What a great romp this was! A mystery, a history, a wild ride through the creation of the free market in these United States and the push toward settling the wild frontier (which in this case was western Pennsylvania).

Captain Saunders assumes the role of the classic detective/spy antihero: a once-celebrated soldier of the American Revolution ruined by shame and alcohol, he is a debauched and conniving sot who unwittingly receives an opportunity at redemption. The husband of his sti...more

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01/08/09

Bookmarks Magazine rated it:

David Liss has found his niche as a historical novelist, and The Whiskey Rebels is an entertaining, if slightly uneven, slice of Americana. Liss�s strength here lies in the details, particularly in the historical figures who play minor roles�George Washington, Aaron Burr, Phillip Freneau, and Hugh Henry Brackenridge among them. Those characters add color to the plot and evoke the late 18th-century history that many of us (for shame) have forgotten. Despite some sharp dialogue, though, the story ...more

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06/21/09

Chris rated it:

(review of isbn 0812974530)

Read in June, 2009

I really dislike historical fiction when done poorly. Which is why this is such a treat. Ethan Saunders is a very human character--flawed, cunning, witty and resourceful, and often funny. His voice carries the novel. Joan Maycott's character is also compelling, although a bit less so than Ethan's. Perhaps it's her eventual turn to bringing down Hamilton at all costs, including ruining the country. The late 18th-century financial world gets a bit confusing at times, but it is also quite tim...more

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