As Eric Flint notes in the introduction to this "novel," "1634: The Ram Rebellion" is a bit of an odd-ball volume. It is essentially a collection of short stories and short pieces that function like a crowd-written novel. It is an exemplar of books that look at the events of the mainline novels of "The Ring of Fire" but from a lower-order perspective. One character in an earlier volume offhandedly mentioned the "trouble in Franconia." This volume gives us an insight into that trouble. What makes the volume strong is that it is shows many of the complexities and nuances of 17th century Germany and how those delicate balances will become upended with the flooding of American ideas. Part 1 (Recipes for Revolution) looks at one Granville farmer's attempt to purchase land outside the Ring of Fire, showing the complicated land ownership system in the area. Part 2 (Enter the Ram) is my favorite. It centers around Flo Jenkins and her relationship with Brillo, a stubborn German ram who becomes the first mass culture folk hero of the New United States. I found myself laughing aloud while reading about Brillo's adventures. I especially liked "A Night at the Ballet" which follows an uptime ballet teacher who introduces modern ballet (including en pointe) to an eager seventeenth century audience. Part 3 (The Trouble in Franconia) looks at uptime attempts to create a civil administration in Franconia, a territory given to the New United States by King Gustav Adolf at the end of 1633. Part 4 (The Ram Rebellion) is probably the weakest of the four sections but mostly because shows the Rebellion primarily from the perspective of the up-timers. I think it would have been stronger if we had had more interior perspectives from those actually leading the revolution.