The Time Traders

The Time Traders, by Andre Norton As we found out last year, I am pathetically ignorant of Andre Nortons's works. I didn't know what the Time Traders were or anything; I just had this book. I lucked out -- this is the first volume in a long series of time-travel intrigue books! It was published in 1958. Ross Murdock, hardened juvenile delinquent, figures he can outsmart anybody, but he got caught this time. To his surprise, the judge offers him a choice: jail time or volunteering to be part of a government experiment of some kind. Ross picks the mystery experiment, assuming he can easily escape. But the next thing he knows, he's in the Arctic, living on a base and learning new skills. What are these people even up to, anyway? Ross discovers that time travel is possible, and that the US is playing a giant game of spot-the-spy-bases all over pre-history. The Soviets are up to something , and they want to find out what it is. So Ross becomes a Bronze Age trader, po