Question: When was the historical novel written by the same author as "Gravity's Rainbow" about pre-war America published?
Context: The Three Leaps of Wang Lun ("Die drei Sprünge des Wang-lun") is a historical novel by German author Alfred Döblin that narrates upheaval and revolution in 18th-century China.  Published in 1916 (although back-dated to 1915), this epic historical novel was Döblin's third novel (although it was the first to be published as a book), and garnered him the Fontane Prize.  Favorably received by critics, who praised its detailed and exotic depictions of China, it was a literary breakthrough for Döblin.  "Wang Lun" also had an influence on younger German writers, including Lion Feuchtwanger, Anna Seghers, and Bertolt Brecht; for the latter, "Wang Lun" provided an impulse for the development of the theory of epic theatre.  In commercial sales, it is Döblin's most successful novel after "Berlin Alexanderplatz".  The title of the novel refers to the rebel leader Wang Lun. The Bastard is a historical novel written by John Jakes and originally published in 1974.  It is book one in a series known as The Kent Family Chronicles or the American Bicentennial Series.  The novel mixes fictional characters with historical events or people, to tell the story of the United States of America in the time period leading up to the American Revolution.  The novel was adapted into a four-hour television film in 1978, "The Bastard". The Lawless is a historical novel written by John Jakes and originally published in 1978.  It is book seven in a series known as the "Kent Family Chronicles" or the "American Bicentennial Series".  The novel mixes fictional characters with historical events and figures, to tell the story of the United States of America of the American Old West times. The Rebels is a historical novel written by John Jakes, originally published in 1975, the second in a series known as The Kent Family Chronicles or the American Bicentennial Series.  The novel mixes fictional characters with historical events and figures, to narrate the story of the nascent United States of America during the time of the American Revolution.  While the novel continues the story of Philip Kent, started in "The Bastard", a large portion focuses on Judson Fletcher, a newly introduced character, as a different rebel.  In 1979, the novel was made into a television film by Operation Prime Time, "The Rebels". Tarzan of the Apes is a novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the first in a series of books about the title character Tarzan.  It was first published in the pulp magazine "All-Story Magazine" in October 1912.  So popular was the character that Burroughs continued the series into the 1940s with two dozen sequels.  For the novel's centennial anniversary, Library of America published a hardcover edition based on the original book in April 2012 with an introduction by Thomas Mallon (ISBN  ). Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , commonly ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist.  A MacArthur Fellow, he is noted for his dense and complex novels.  His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, genres and themes, including history, music, science, and mathematics.  For "Gravity's Rainbow", Pynchon won the 1974 U.S. National Book Award for Fiction. Mason & Dixon is a postmodernist novel by U.S. author Thomas Pynchon published in 1997.  It concentrates on the collaboration of the historical Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in their astronomical and surveying exploits in Cape Colony, Saint Helena, Great Britain and along the Mason-Dixon line in British North America on the eve of the Revolutionary War in the United States. Wallenstein is a 1920 historical novel by German author Alfred Döblin.  Set in Central Europe during the Thirty Years War, the novel's plot is organized around the polar figures of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, on the one hand, and Albrecht von Wallenstein, on the other.  Döblin's approach to narrating the war differed from prevailing historiography in that, rather than interpreting the Thirty Years War primarily as a religious conflict, he portrays it critically as the absurd consequence of a combination of national-political, financial, and individual psychological factors.  Döblin saw a strong similarity between the Thirty Years War and the First World War, during which he wrote "Wallenstein".  The novel is counted among the most innovative and significant historical novels in the German literary tradition.  In large part, contemporary critics found the novel to be difficult, dense, and chaotic—a reception Döblin discussed in his 1921 essay "The Epic Writer, His Material, and Criticism"—yet writers such as Lion Feuchtwanger, Franz Blei, and Herbert Ihering praised "Wallenstein" for its formal innovation, poetic language, epic scope, and bold departure from other German writing of the time.  Despite the novel's difficulty, the critical consensus was that "Wallenstein" was a major achievement and confirmed the promise seen in Döblin's earlier historical novel, "The Three Leaps of Wang Lun". The Seekers is a historical novel written by John Jakes and originally published in 1975.  It is book three in a series known as the Kent Family Chronicles or the American Bicentennial Series.  The novel mixes fictional characters with historical events and figures, as it narrates the story of the United States of America from 1794 through 1814.  In 1979, the novel was made into a television film by Operation Prime Time and premiered on HBO on July 8, 1979, "The Seekers". The Obama Identity: A Novel (Or Is It?)  is a 2010 novel written by Edward Klein and former Republican United States Representative John LeBoutillier.  Among other things, the book explores and promotes the Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories and Barack Obama religion conspiracy theories in the form of a novel.  In an interview on "Fox & Friends", Leboutillier claimed that the book uses "real things" and has "so much real stuff".  Following the interview, Media Matters for America published excerpts from the book in an article which criticized the book as having an "incomprehensible plot".
Answer: 1997