Great War: American Front (Great War)

Rating:
Summary: 1914 - The Yankees and Confederates Join World War I
Review: To look at a cover like this, one would think "Impossible!" or "Fiction!" or "This couldn't possibly be so, the Confederates were defeated long before trench warfare and aeroplanes were invented!"

Well that is of course all true. But is it really so implausible when one considers the south was only one dropped set of battleplans away from winning the civil war with British and French help (see "How Few Remain" the prequel)?

And when July 1914 arrives the nation called the Confederate States of America (or CSA for short) is now in its 52nd year and still allied with its longtime european allies Great Britain and France (despite the latter two's disapproval of the C.S.'s virtual-aparthiedist treatment of Negroes who may as well still be slaves in many ways).

And their northern neighbour the United States of America has for years cultivated good relations with the newly-strong German Empire. Up to the point where it is fashionable to grow and wax a Kaiser Bill moustache if you're a USA male!

So now war has broken out in Europe. And each north American nation has honoured its treaty committments. President Teddy Roosevelt of the United States has declared war on President Woodrow Wilson of the Confederate States. After the humiliating losses of The American Civil War and The Second Mexican War, a flood of volunteers rush to join the U.S. army! And south of the border...a flood of volunteers rush to join the C.S. army to defeat the yankees, just like their fathers and grandfathers did!

This novel is about a 3rd American Civil War with WW1 technology and weapons, and horrors. It's written from the perspectives of numerous soldiers and civilians on both sides. The Confederate Army, The U.S. Military, Occupied Canadian farms, a brewing Negro Marxist revolution, pilots in the sky, you name it. To illustrate that a war is always a mixture of different viewpoints and beliefs. And it is always the victor who writes the history. I think you will be impressed by this book, I could not put it down after only a few chapters!

Now I must admit, it does get a bit boring in the middle. However that only makes it more realistic as it depicts what a vicious repetitive circle the First World War was, regardless of geography and nationality.

And I make no exageration when I say it was very cleverly done and thought-out by Harry. And like "How Few Remain" there is a map of the American WWI front. Which is torn apart by machine guns, barbed wire, poisonous gas and the unforgetable trench warfare. Just like the real WW1 it soon becomes clear this war will not be over soon or easily.

There is even a grumpy, aged U.S. general operating on the Kentucky front whom some might recognise...

Those who have read WWI books and stories for years will appreciate this one and its two sequels for a special reason. You don't know who's going to win!

Rating:
Summary: Turtledove's war
Review: Well-
The imagination is there-
The writing skills are there-
The book is great!
The only thing that I don tlike is that it is a little tricky to remember all 20 or so characters and the way he jumps from character to character can be rather annoying- but it grows on you as you get used to it.

All in all= A-