Rating: 
Summary: Perplexing..
Review: "How Few Remain" started this off, sort of, and was better than anything here. In this series, Turtledove does some things right, some wrong. But I confess I am largely weary of his limited technique. This series is much better at alternate history than things like his WorldWar series with aliens. There is actually a feel here for how things might've gone had X happened. But Turtledove always writes in these jagged snippets. His only technique seems to be to tell 20 different stories at once, each in 3-6 page slices. After awhile, this can become tedious, especially if many of the characters are less than compelling, as here. Plus, the momentum of each saga is too often halted. Further, the sense of a "whole" is constantly lost. There are no grand moments or strategies. It is perplexing how major characters like Theodore Roosevelt drift into minor roles. TR could've been the central focal point from which to tell the story, to make it all make sense. Ultimately, Turtledove's trite technique renders this too episodic, too disconnected. You care less and less as it wears on. The minor characters do not serve the whole--they become it. That is not always a good thing, yet every Turtledove book seems to turn out this way. There ARE other ways to tell a story....
Rating:
Summary: Perplexing..
Review: "How Few Remain" started this off, sort of, and was better than anything here. In this series, Turtledove does some things right, some wrong. But I confess I am largely weary of his limited technique. This series is much better at alternate history than things like his WorldWar series with aliens. There is actually a feel here for how things might've gone had X happened. But Turtledove always writes in these jagged snippets. His only technique seems to be to tell 20 different stories at once, each in 3-6 page slices. After awhile, this can become tedious, especially if many of the characters are less than compelling, as here. Plus, the momentum of each saga is too often halted. Further, the sense of a "whole" is constantly lost. There are no grand moments or strategies. It is perplexing how major characters like Theodore Roosevelt drift into minor roles. TR could've been the central focal point from which to tell the story, to make it all make sense. Ultimately, Turtledove's trite technique renders this too episodic, too disconnected. You care less and less as it wears on. The minor characters do not serve the whole--they become it. That is not always a good thing, yet every Turtledove book seems to turn out this way. There ARE other ways to tell a story....
Rating: 
Summary: It Was Always Going To Happen..
Review: Before reviewing this edition I would like to say that it was the immediate companion "Walk In Hell" that I read first so I have treated "How Few Remain" and this masterpiece "American Front" first of the Great War trilogy as prequils.This edition locked into place the start of the Great War and the link to the Second Mexican war. In reality Harry Turtledove should have placed a bridging novel between "How Few Remain" and this one to cover the years 1882 - 1913 with a little more depth. It would have been nice to see how the Confederacy coped with freeing the slaves, the rise of Teddy Roosevelt and the San Fransisco earthquake. As with How Few Remain we are given the reason for the global situation the Turtledove world is in at present(sic). A reminder that the USA's hand was forced into submission by Great Britan and France. Now the USA has entered the European war thus making it a global conflict, on the side of Germany, with revenge against those that weakened it. The CSA, France, Great Britan and Canada. Faces from How Few Remain show up but as time has moved on they have become older and in some cases, none the wiser. Roosevelt is a tough hard hitting president and his most senior General, Custor, a bombastic and defiant old man. The two strong personalities enevitable collide after years of resentment... New Characters make an appearance and some faces will become all too familiar over the next twenty or so years. It is the first time that the CSA slave/labor issue finally gets a conclusion that leads to bloodshed and anarchy that will start to derail the CSA. Once again watch the map, it's going to change. The variation on Utah "Beehive Nation" is good but I found it unbelievable that one of reality's most loyal member states of the USA is given such a hard time in this edition as it had in the previous. However we are introduced to one of the conflicts more colorful characters - Gordon McSweeny. We are introduced to a gunnery saregent fighting for the CSA, Jake Featherston, a US fisherman called George Enos, a CSA steel worker named Jefferson Pinkard, a CSA submarianer Cpt Kincad, a US pilot Moss fighting in the cold skies of Canada. Once again a strong female cast is repersented and they all come to the fore including the most formidible of all, Anne Collerton...watch this space! Lots more faces inside including to totally different Canadian Families and the variations on their lives which have to suffer the rigours of war and a suprise outcome. A free flowing and exciting storyline that ends on a high. Five Stars*****
Rating: 
Summary: Good story of an America at war with itself
Review: For fans of alternative history, the stories of Harry Turtledove have always promised enjoyable presentations of intriguing possibilities. This book is the second in his "tetralogy" examining a world in which the South won the Civil War. American Front picks up the story in 1914 with the start of a world war between the U.S. and its ally Germany on the one hand, and the Confederate states, Britain, and France on the other. Turtledove knows his history and it shows, as the novel's events ring true enough to their real-life counterparts while developing in new and intriguing ways.
Yet this is a different novel from its predecessor. Though a sequel to "How Few Remain", Turtledove examines the war from a different perspective here, following events through original characters rather than historical ones. This gives him greater flexibility in his depiction of them, yet it is the characters that are the weakest part of the book. While the plotting in most of the story arcs is quite good at sustaining interest, the characters have a sameness about them, using many of the same phrases and slang when expressing themselves. This stands in stark contrast to his previous novel, in which each of the main characters he uses is vividly and distinctly realized, and makes for a weaker work than the excellent inaugural work. Nonetheless, readers interested in an engrossing work of alternative history will find much to enjoy in this story about a divided America plunging into the hell of a "Great War."
Rating:
Summary: Mustard Gas on the Mississippi
Review: It's most unquiet on the Western Front... The Great War fought on American soil. Harry Turtledove has written a spectacular work of alternate history. Great War: American Front is the first of three books in a trilogy, but you really must read How Few Remain beforehand. Go ahead, I'll wait. How Few Remain (HFR) gives the backstory: Confederate States defeat the USA in 1862 by not losing critical battle plans, and in 1881 the USA itches for a rematch, only to lose again. By 1911 the USA and CSA have been seperate countries for 50 years, with plenty of resentment. The USA, having been defeated twice, is not the economic powerhouse it became in our timeline. Tensions mount between the two countries and their allies. CSA is allied with England and France, USA with Germany. The European struggle is offstage, as American Front covers the war from multiple viewpoints in North America. British Canada is invaded by the USA and becomes Occupied territory; one family secretly resists, another slowly accepts their new overlords. Utah, still a US territory because the government is still fighting the Mormons, who are being supplied with weapons from the CSA. And in the CSA, Marxism is being taught... among the ex-slaves, and the USA is running weapons to them! General Custer is observed through the eyes of his long-suffering aide, take a ride on a CSA submarine, observe enemy intelligence in a Washington DC coffeehouse. Multiple viewpoints, numerous agendas, plenty of intrigue, and laughably bad sex scenes! What more could anyone want? And if you enjoy this book, there are two more in the Great War series, followed by three more in the American Empire series, leading up to the forthcoming American World War II!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent appetizer; awaiting more heft in next book
Review: Mr. Turtledove has struck on an interesting concept in his new alternative history, and I eagerly await his next volume. Nonetheless, I cannot help but think that the book would fare better with connecting references to "How Few Remain" (whatever happened to Lincoln? why not use him as the icon of American Socialism), use of more true life names to draw the reader in (Black Jack Pershing, Alvin York, Eddie Rickenbacker readily come to mind), use of maps to help the reader picture what is happening, a view of the war in Europe, and even the inclusion of crossovers between the European and North American conflict (Churchill comes to the confederacy with his Tanks, Federal ships participate with Germany at Jutland). Finally, I hope there is a little more of a sense of the sweep of the continent where this war is being fought...even if maps were offered, Mr. Turtledove's prose and offered activities could easily suffice for a war fought on the borders of two or three states, and do not give the feel of a war fought across the breadth of the continent.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but still has problems
Review: Note: This is a review of the entire trilogy. I'll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, however. Basically, this is an extension of Harry Turtledove's book "How Few Remain". Basically, the South won its independence (he never is extremely specific on how, though). The North ends up fighting the South and is crushed because it is simultaneously fighting the South, France, and England. This book begins a while after that. The South (which I will refer to as the Confederacy now) is still allied with France & England, but the North has now allied with Germany. World War I breaks out, and while the various battles are fought in Europe the USA has to fight the CSA & Canada, though the CSA poses the bigger threat. It's a lot like World War I: Trench warfare, people rushing towards the enemy trenches and being clobbered. The story is shown from the viewpoints of a lot of different characters. Unfortunately, this means it takes about 3/4 of this book to just remember who is few (I actually thought Lucien Galtier/Arthur McGregor were the same people until sometime in the second book--after all, they were very similar). Anyway, so the book is, for the most part, showing the way the war goes from the viewpoint of various characters. By the time you actually remember who is who, however, this book is pretty much finished. Still, someone might expect it to be exactly like World War I. Not exactly. There are various different developments. But I'm not going to give them away. My biggest objection to this book is the frequent swearing and sometimes explicit sex scenes. The author, true, does not go in extreme detail on them, but enough to make some people uncomfortable. True, I guess he may be portraying the battlefield as it is, but I just wish he had toned down the language and had gone without a bunch of the sex, which I believed slowed the story down. Still, overall, it is a very good book.
Rating:
Summary: I couldn't finish it
Review: The spotlight reviewer who gave it two stars is absolutely right: there are far too many characters in this thing. I had troubles keeping up with the storylines after about the tenth one! Its almost like Turtledove wanted to have several books in one, taking turns with each chapter. What's even worse is just that many of these characters I have zero interest in - some serve no real purpose and just exist, while others seem like basic archetypes. I can't say the dialogue is terribly clever either. The one part with Jackson's relative was unbarable to read because it was such a typical "I am a high-class rich guy" conversation. The part where it explained a guy thought every foreign language was latin "even Jewish" was corny as well. I seriously wonder how Harry Turtledove has such a strong fanbase, because every time I venture to one of his books I find good ideas and poor delivery. If perhaps it had stuck to one to three theaters of the war I could have enjoyed myself better. With the current narrative, it almost reads like Turtledove is making it up as he goes along.
Rating:
Summary: the american front is great
Review: this book is very interesting because it throws the whole world on its head due to a confederate victory in the civil war. the USA and CSA duke it out on even terms in this novel and we are itnroduced to some very interestign characters like a young artillery sgt. jake fetherson who becomes very important
Rating:
Summary: This is a WHAT IF book.
Review: This is just a very good book to read for history buffs like me. It starts out right before the war in America where everyone is reading in the news about the German Empire and the Austria-Hungarian Empire strike at their enemies England, France, and Russia. USA, Germany's, and Austria-Hungary's ally, decided to help their allies by declaring war on their enemies and allies Confederate States of America, the Dominion of Canada and Japan. This book tells the lives of the soldiers of the Confederate States and the United States. It tells the lives of civilians of Canada, CSA, and USA, the lives of Navy personnel of the US. It also tells the life of a US aeroplane pilot.
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