Underground Airlines

Underground Airlines (2016), a novel by American author Ben Winters, is set in a modern-day alternate-history of the United States where the American Civil War never occurred because Abraham Lincoln was assassinated before his 1861 inauguration. Therefore, slavery was never abolished and remains legal in four southern states known as The Hard Four. When Victor, a runaway slave, is coerced into helping a federal marshal capture fellow escapees, the young man goes on a harrowing journey of self-discovery, moral awakening, and ethical righteousness. The title of the novel evokes the Underground Railroad, referring to a group of people who helps slaves flee the United States. Underground Airlines was named a New York Times Best Seller, a Goodreads Choice finalist, as well as one of the Best Books of the Year by Publishers Weekly, Slate, Kirkus Reviews, NPR, and many others.

Narrated in the first person by an African-American man who identifies himself as Jim Dirkson, the story begins in Indianapolis, Indiana. Jim is soon revealed to be Victor, a former Person Bound to Labor (aka peeb), who has become a bounty hunter tasked with capturing runaway slaves and returning them to the plantations from which they fled. Victor, who successfully escaped enslavement himself, is coerced to work for a US Marshal, Mr. Bridge. If Victor refuses to help or tries to flee, a tracking device in his spine will alert authorities, and he will be returned to the plantation from which he escaped. As the novel begins, Victor is tracking down an escaped peeb named Jackdaw.

Victor poses as Jim, an Indonesian mobile carrier looking to expand in the United States. He asks Father Barton, a Catholic priest and a member of the Underground Airlines organization that helps American slaves escape, to help his wife flee. Victor’s wife, nicknamed Darling, is held captive in a unified Carolina. Slavery remains legal in Carolina, along with Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. These states comprise The Hard Four. Victor aims to successfully cross Darling into Little America, an enclave of Montreal that provides residence specifically for African-Americans. Father Barton refuses to help Victor, which doesn’t upset Victor too much considering the whole plan was a recon mission to infiltrate the Underground Airlines and obtain secret information.



While staying at a hotel, Victor befriends a white woman named Martha Flowers and her mixed-race son, Lionel, after they are accused of stealing food from a breakfast buffet. Victor, introducing himself as the easygoing Jim Dirkson, gives them food to eat. Victor learns that Martha is seeking information about her husband and Lionel’s father, a peeb named Samson who was recaptured not long ago. Victor, who expresses his isolation and lack of a moral compass, decides to help Martha. Victor also begins to sympathize with his target, Jackdaw, confessing to Martha about becoming a bounty hunter in order to attain his own permanent freedom. As he gets closer to Jackdaw, Victor begins questioning the moral validity of his mission.

Victor eventually locates Jackdaw in a cave; in the process learns he has been misinformed. Jackdaw isn’t a peeb, but an undercover agent and freeborn African-American college student named Kevin. Kevin has been sent by Father Barton to work on behalf of the Underground Airlines. Kevin has also been tasked with infiltrating a plantation to record its abusive practices and violation of the Clean Hands laws, which outlaw the selling of slave-made goods. According to Father Barton, when the evidence is presented, slavery could very well be outlawed. However, Kevin only agrees to turn over the evidence if his enslaved wife is freed. When he is told that his wife is dead, Kevin lashes out violently and is shot dead by an Indianapolis police officer apparently working for the Underground Airlines. As a result, Father Barton sends Victor back to retrieve the incriminating evidence. If Victor declines, he will be hunted and killed by the government.

Victor weighs his options: procuring the evidence or mounting an escape. Victor reluctantly chooses the former, deciding to take Martha with him back to the Garments of the Greater South (GGSI) to attain the evidence. He promises Martha to glean information about Samson and his whereabouts if she helps. Along the way, Victor grapples with self-doubt and his moral standing as it relates to his mission. Martha poses as Victor’s “Missus” as they navigate the Hard Four into Alabama. They infiltrate the GGSI, obtaining what they think is proof of the plantation owner’s abusive treatment and brainwashing methods. However, Victor uncovers a far more nefarious plot when he locates a flask left behind by Kevin. Inside the flask is genetic material used by the US government to clone slaves. This process exposes a loophole in the law, as a clone cannot be constituted as having personhood. Therefore, clones would be forced to remain enslaved on plantations even if slavery is abolished.



Victor is confronted by Underground Airlines officials, during which he realizes he isn’t the only double-agent working for the organization. Victor and Martha are snatched by Officer Cook, a black colleague of Father Barton who has been double-dealing in order to attain his own freedom. A scuffle ensues and Cook is shot dead by Victor. Victor turns the flask over to a US Marshal Officer who explains that the government has been in cahoots with southern plantations in the development of cloned slaves for reasons beyond his grasp. Victor’s tracking device is removed and he is set free. Instead of escaping the United States, Victor’s moral awakening forces him to stay with Martha in Chicago and join an abolitionist cause to free more slaves.

Ben Winters is an American novelist, playwright, poetry writer, journalist, and teacher. He has written nine novels, five plays, and three volumes of poetry. Underground Airlines, his most recent novel, was named as a Chautauqua Prize finalist for 2017.