"Eric Flint - [Grantville 04] - 1634 The Ram Rebellion" - читать интересную книгу автора (Flint Eric)

The expression on Melissa’s face today was the same one Mike remembered from years before. The
aloof, questioning eyebrow-lift with which she greeted a student who approached her with a problem
after class. A facial gesture which, somehow, managed to combine three different propositions:

One. You wish?

Two. Yes, I will be glad to help you.

Three. You will almost certainly wish I hadn’t.

“You’ve got the oddest look on your face, Mike,” Melissa said, bringing him back to the moment.
“What’s up?”

He smiled, a bit sheepishly. “Just remembering . . . Ah, never mind. I need your advice.”

“Yes?”

That was point one. Fearlessly, Mike plowed on.

“It’s fine and dandy for me to give a fancy public speech about launching the American revolution ahead
of schedule, now that our town is stranded in seventeenth century Europe. I even got elected head of the
emergency committee, because of it, thanks to you. But now, ah . . .”

“You’ve got to put your money where your mouth is. And you don’t really know where to start, other
than with some fine generalities – very vague, very politician-like – about freedom and equality.” She
leaned forward in her chair, lacing her long fingers together. “Yes, I understand. I’ll be glad to give you
whatever advice I can.”

Point two, coming like the tides. Paralyzed for a moment, Mike studied her fingers. Very elegant and
aristocratic fingers, they were. Absurdly so, really, for a woman with her political attitudes.

“Ah. Yes. I was thinking maybe . . .”

But Melissa was already shaking her head. Another characteristic Mike remembered. Melissa Mailey
was no more likely to let a student frame their own question than she was to provide them with an answer
they wanted.

“Start with the land problem,” she said firmly. “It stands right at the center of any revolution that shatters
the old regime and ushers in democracy and the industrial revolution. That was true even in our own
American revolution, though most people don’t realize it.”

He couldn’t think of anything better to say than he had as a teenager.

“Huh?”
 She smiled. Very coolly, as he remembered her doing. “Mike, it’s complicated. Land tenure is always
complicated, especially in societies with a feudal background—and there’s nothing dumber than trying to
carry through a revolution based on misconceptions. For instance, you’re probably assuming that
seventeenth century German farmers are a bunch of serfs toiling on land owned by the aristocracy. So the
simplest way to solve their problem is to expropriate the land from the great nobles and turn it over to the