The ancient city of Cahokia was located in the present state of Illinois directly across the river from what is now the City of St. Louis. At one time it was the largest city in North America. In 1250 it had a larger population than London, consisting of Native Americans whom we now call the Mississippian Culture but who are known colloquially as "the Mound Builders" because they built hundreds of very tall mounds on both sides of the Mississippi River (and indeed throughout the Midwest). The city of Cahokia was believed to be a religious center and the hub of a large trading network that reached all the way to the American southwest. The Mississippian Culture pre-dates European contact and it is believed that the population had dispersed and the city was abandoned by the early 1400's. No one knows exactly why but theories abound, many to do with climate change and scarce resources. All that was left were the mounds. The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site maintains the few remaining mounds, which have eroded over the years. I would urge you to visit its very good Interpretive Center but it has been closed for over a year for renovations.
When the French explored the area in the late 1600's they did, of course, discover Native American peoples living in the area whom they called the Illini. Anthropologists believe that the Illini people were not descended from the Mississippian Culture. One of the Illini tribes called themselves the Cahokia (or at least that is how the French heard it). The Seminary of Foreign Missions in Quebec sent missionaries to the area and they established the Church of the Holy Family and the little village of Cahokia (competing with the Jesuit missions at Peoria, and later Kaskaskia). That town and the log church still exist across the river from St. Louis, south of the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site.
Cahokia Jazz, Francis Spufford's new novel, is, on one level, a hard boiled detective story set in the 1920's involving the investigation of a brutal murder on the roof of a municipal building. But on another, and more important level, it is the exploration of an alternate American timeline in which the ancient city of Cahokia was never abandoned. He also imagines a world in which the strain of smallpox that was brought across the Atlantic was a less virulant strain that also conferred immunity. Thus the native populations of the Americas were not decimated by disease. In his world the Jesuits have converted much of the native population, although they have done this by allowing the incorporation of native beliefs into the rituals of the church. And, although he doesn't explain exactly how, the native populations managed to escape the inexorable drive westward by the greedy Anglo population and were able to maintain their own "kingdom" in the Midwest. By the 1920's, when this novel takes place, the City of Cahokia is in many ways a typical midwestern American city with good parts and bad parts and the Cahokia "kingdom" has been made a state in the Union.
Spufford's Cahokia differs from the average American city in that the majority of its citizens are native American, here called the takouma. There is a significant population of persons of African descent (called taklousa) and of course there are white citizens (called takata). You would do well to force those definitions into your head right at the beginning of the novel so that you can keep the racial dynamics in focus. Spufford provides some handy maps at the beginning of the novel that sets out the boundaries of the Cahokia state and the street plan of the heart of the city (which includes one large mound at the center).
In this alternate history of the United States, things are the same and yet some things happened slightly differently than in our real history, from Civil War battles to movies like The Birth of a Nation. Spufford peppers these changes through the story, like surprise caramels in a box of chocolates. In general I didn't think it was too heavy handed. And much of the world is exactly as it really was. Just as in the real 1920's, the Ku Klux Klan is on the rise. I found that the best way to read the story was just to accept the historical changes and not think too hard about them.
As far as the murder mystery goes, I'm not at all an expert on classic detective fiction written by the likes of Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett but the flyleaf describes this novel as a "noir detective story" so I assume that is what Spufford was attempting. In these types of stories the detective is usually battling some kind of shadowy figure while working within a corrupt system. There is usually a femme fatale to lead the detective astray. In the end, order of some kind is restored.
In general Spufford succeeds although he probably won't be acclaimed as the next Hammett or Chandler. His novel doesn't have "the voice" (you know ... a voice you can imagine as Humphrey Bogart in a voice-over). The lead character, Detective Joe Barrow, a half takouma and half takousa man who is always described as very large, is the "muscle" side of the partnership with Detective Phineas Drummond. Barrow, an orphan raised in a boys home who plays a mean jazz piano, forged a bond with Drummond during WWI. Drummond, a cop who pays no attention to the rules, has gotten Joe his job on the police force although neither of them is native to Cahokia, and so far Joe has been willing to go along with Drummond's unorthodox ways. But now Drummond doesn't seem very interested in finding the perpetrator of the murder and Joe doesn't understand why.
The detective story has prohibition bootleggers, corrupt cops, corrupt politicians, jazz musicians, the Ku Klux Klan, an "unofficial" king of the city and two characters who you suspect could possibly be the femme fatale of the story. As a detective story, the pieces fit together and, while the broad strokes of the story are predictable (as these often are), the actual details are sometimes surprising. But the true tension in the story is whether the takata whites (of the City and/or the United States) will use the gruesome murder as an excuse to destroy the takouma culture and power.
In his earlier novel, Golden Hill, Spufford explored the racial dynamics of old New York but interestingly left out any Native Americans. Here, although he includes African Americans, the clash is mainly between the Native American takoumas who run the City and the minority population of white takatas. It is an interesting thought experiment. Spufford is not American so I find it interesting that two out of his three novels are set in historical America and that he explores themes that many American authors shy away from.
I thought the murder plot was perfectly fine but was more impressed by his world-building both in terms of the physical location descriptions and the characters. He is interested in the power of myth, in many forms. For instance, although the takouma were long ago converted to Catholicism by the Jesuits, many of the white community of takata believe that they are descendants of renegade Aztecs who practice human sacrifice. Spufford is also interested in how power is exerted. The most powerful man in the City holds no office but is the hereditary king of a territory that no longer has a king. And then there is the mysterious Red Council. As things build to the climax, the question is whether Cahokia can attempt to be a utopian community where people of all types can live together in peace or is it a powder keg about to explode? Spufford waivers between a sense of hope and a sense that it will be an everlasting battle against white racism.
It was interesting to compare his version of Cahokia with what I know of ancient Cahokia and what I know of the geography of the area. In general I think he did a good job - although like most people who didn't grow up in the Mississippi River Valley he ignored the destructive nature of the Mississippi River. There are no mentions of flood levees and he has warehouses and businesses apparently built right under the ramps to the bridge. One of the reasons St. Louis grew on the WEST side of the river is that it sits on top of a bluff with a natural access down to the river. The towns on the eastern side of the river were small and had to sit far back from the river because of flooding - which hampered commerce and, hence, growth. Also, he gave his takouma a super power to be able to figure out how to build a bridge over the Mississippi before Chicago built the railroad bridge up in Iowa. In this alternate history the majority of western train traffic goes through Cahokia instead of north through Chicago as it did in real life. (The river is narrower and shallower up north before the Missouri River joins it so bridge building is easier.) But none of this is important to the story and, as I said, he did a good job with his world building.
I'm not one who normally chooses to read alternate history books. I'm not sure I would have even wanted to read this one except that I live across the Mississippi River from Cahokia and I very much liked his earlier book, Golden Hill. I enjoyed this novel but I liked Golden Hill much better, probably because I'm not into alternate histories or hard boiled detective fiction but I love colonial history.
On the whole, I recommend this novel but I don't think it is for everyone. The detective story may move a little too slow for some people due to his world building but on the whole he keeps things moving and there are some decent twists in his story. This novel would appeal to persons who want to see the thought provoking world he creates and the parallels to modern society and the continuing racial problems in America.
