Rating: 
Summary: Poor History, Poor Premise, Worse Execution
Review: A descendant of the SS-GB genre, this book is flawed by the lack of historical versimilitude coupled with pedestrian writing.To have the CSA win the war in 1865 because it was "renewed" by Jefferson Davis' heroic sacrifice was a stretch. To then add a black House and a white Senate only stretches credibility beyond comprehension. In effect, the author's approval of Plessy vs. Ferguson {1896, "separate but equal") is taken to ridiculous heights/depths. European history still has a Nazi Germany, but Britain is a virtual sinecure of the CSA. History between 1865 and 2000 is slapdash and more than unlikely. The "detective" novel has a plot which is somewhat reminiscent of GUNS OF THE SOUTH in terms of race relations and GORKY PARK in terms of plot line, but it is handled so poorly that no one really cares. To top it off, the protagonist police detective Clark Haddon's mere name is insulting (the author, located in the DC metro area, has to be aware that Haddon Clark is a local serial killer). But then again, this novel is bad in so many different aspects that this is only one of the lesser faults. Poor historical development, poor plotline, poor writing -- and these are its strengths. I have probably read worse books, but it is difficult to say when.
Rating:
Summary: I judged this one by its cover,,and lost!!
Review: Ater reading the dust cover on this book ,I snapped it up.
the first chapter was ok with a little info on how the south won the war of northern aggression,,,then it was all down hill after that.
To much detail put into areas that had nothing to do about nothing.
A liberal mis-mash about the joys of race mixing,homosexuality,and such,with nothing what so ever to do with alternative history...very hard to get through.
Rating: 
Summary: Lack of dramatic content
Review: Howard Means knows how to write because he keeps you fairly interested in the story. However, there is a certain lack of dramatic content throughout which does not appear until the end of the book. We find out little about what the Senate, House, newspapers or the Southern general public thinks about the current state of events. And, for a book on alternate history, his desciptions of the current world beyond his characters is sketchy. Such as: Is Nathan Winston the first Black VP? What is the rest of the CSA like beyond Richmond? What is the rest of the North like beyond North Adams? The book is populated by too few main characters and some of the main characters (Haddon and Cara) disappear for 75 pages or more before returning again. Means is too focused on Spencer Lee & Nathan Winston and not enough on the world of the CSA. By adding a little politcal intrigue, more in depth (and alternate) descriptions of the world and a stronger police investigation, this could have been a blockbuster. Instead, it is just a curiosity piece to go along with the other ho-hum What If books.
Rating: 
Summary: Thoroughly enjoyable
Review: I am in total agreement with twim2, 6/8/99, it's a fictional novel people! It's intention is to entertain - which it did. I commend Mr. Means for his imagination and insight. Unlike most of the other reviews, I didn't have a hard time suspending belief, anything is possible when it comes to power and control. After all, we're human beings with flaws, not gods. In my opinion, if the nay sayers would see these historical figures as the human beings they were, their belief system wouldn't have been so affected. What I find fascinating is that the same individuals that found this book unbelievable and offensive, don't have a problem admiring actual history and the individuals involved. There was nothing and nobody to admire during that period of time. As a matter of fact, we're still seeing the dreadful affects of it. I highly recommend this book, and have done so many times - the people that read it agreed.
Rating:
Summary: AN INTERESTING TALE OF ALTERNATE HISTORY
Review: I enjoyed Mr. Means' work and could not put it down. I thought to be a well told story of what might have happened if the South had actually won the War Between the States. I found Spencer Jefferson Lee to be a most capable president and that his Black Vice President Nathan Winston was a good man. In the Separate but Equal Society that Mr. Means created, Blacks seemed to me to have opportunities than they had in the real post-bellum South. Vice President Winston had been a well known academic before assuming the Vice Presidency and his wife Lucinda was an equally well known professor at the National University of the South. The only thing I found even remotely wrong with the book was that the gaps in History from 1866-2000 (i.e. what happened during World War II and Vietnam?) could have been filled in just a little bit better. Reading this book reminded me of things that people tend to forget. There were Blacks that actually fought WILLINGLY for the Southern cause and that the attitudes of people in the North were just as racist if not more so. To me, the racism of people in the North was brought forth when Vice President Winston's son John Henry was kidnapped. I also got the idea that the gap between the two races was narrowing when I read about the developing relationship between Jason Lee and Lucy Winston. I would highly reccomend this book to anyone - Northerner or Southerner!
Rating:
Summary: Waiting for a Payoff
Review: I was intrigued by the concept of this book: a present-day world assuming the Confederacy had prevailed in the Civil War. The problem is that the book never pays off on the setup. I had to force myself to keep reading with the hope that an interesting story or compelling characters were just around the corner. After 100 pages, I gave up. I'd recommend Gore Vidal's Lincoln as an enjoyable read in historical fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful for Rebel apologists
Review: This book asks the reader to believe that in 1871 the victorious Southern Congress would not only give slaves their freedom and the vote, but control of the House of Representatives and half the country. This is only believable for Confederate apologists who want people to believe that slavery would have eventually "disappeared" somehow. Southerners in the mid-19th century believed blacks were subhuman. This book asks you to believe that they would ignore their beliefs and treat blacks "equally" just because they had a change of heart. This is more than nitpicking, as some reviewerers have suggested. Books like this have to have some small level of believability, otherwise why not change everything? Lets write a book where Robert E. Lee lives forever and everybody turns orange. It would be as believable as this book
Rating:
Summary: Waiting for a Payoff
Review: When I first saw the title "CSA" and read the summary of the plot, I felt I had to own this book. Alternative History is a fascinating subject, and I have always enjoyed this kind of speculative fiction. However, the premise for the creation of the Confederate States and the destruction of the North is so flimsy and historically unsound that the entire novel fell apart around it. Means starts the book with the assumption that the South won the war after 1865. Any historian can tell you that this would have been impossible. By 1864 the Cause of the Confederacy was lost, and no final, great display by Jefferson Davis in Richmond could have saved it. Lee's Army had crumbled to less than a quarter of Grant's by 1865, with desertions winnowing the number down every day. There is no concieveable way that the Army of Northern Virginia could have ressurected itself and conqured the North. If the setting for the Southern victory had taken place after a Lee victory at Gettysburg, the premise could have been kept up, but assuming the destruction of the USA after 1865? Please. Suspension of disbelief is one thing. Being asked to swallow this tripe is absurd. Based solely on that, I would recommend never picking up this book, but the story itself is just as awful. The CSA Means envisions seperates the races but makes them truly equal. But freedom in the South is a tenuous thing, and if you're bad, you're sent to the "badlands" of the industrial wassteland that is the North. The Vice-President's son(a mixed-up kid cliche), is kidnapped by an SLA-like northern group and taken to the former USA, where he learns that things like the mixing of the races and secular humanisim are all great things that the South has denied itself. No arguments from me about the positive aspects of TRUE racial equality and whatnot, but he becomes a Patty Hearst type, falling in with his kidnappers. The book offers no real insight into the workings of the CSA, except for a few token paragraphs about how the President is always white, the Veep always black, and how the two chambers of Congress are one white and one black. Also, the University of Virginia built an identical campus just for blacks, and it can be assumed that these Jim Crow-esque rules apply accross this nation. It's all rather sad, as the opportunity to explore what a real victorious South would be like are lost. Why would the North, with all it's resources, be turned into a wasteland by the South? Why would everyone be so happy with segregation? Means seems to think that race relations in the South would be better than our current state of affairs because seperate but equal is truly achieved. But come on! Assuming that the South won, wouldn't slavery, although logically eventually abolished, last longer, and wouldn't the kind of seperation depicted in the novel be impossible in a South that would have been slave-free for such a short amount of time? CSA paints the Confederate cause as flawed but right, which is downright stupid. The book insulted my intelligence again and again. For a good review of what a victorious South would look like, see Harry Turtledove's "Great War" series, which starts with the excellent "How Few Remain". He paints a much more realistic portrait of Southern victory, which results in a CSA and USA, which is what the South wanted, anyway. Read that series, which paints vivid portraits of historical and fictional charachters, not this mess of a novel that had me itching for my $4.99 back.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Judge a Book by it's Cover
Review: When I first saw the title "CSA" and read the summary of the plot, I felt I had to own this book. Alternative History is a fascinating subject, and I have always enjoyed this kind of speculative fiction. However, the premise for the creation of the Confederate States and the destruction of the North is so flimsy and historically unsound that the entire novel fell apart around it. Means starts the book with the assumption that the South won the war after 1865. Any historian can tell you that this would have been impossible. By 1864 the Cause of the Confederacy was lost, and no final, great display by Jefferson Davis in Richmond could have saved it. Lee's Army had crumbled to less than a quarter of Grant's by 1865, with desertions winnowing the number down every day. There is no concieveable way that the Army of Northern Virginia could have ressurected itself and conqured the North. If the setting for the Southern victory had taken place after a Lee victory at Gettysburg, the premise could have been kept up, but assuming the destruction of the USA after 1865? Please. Suspension of disbelief is one thing. Being asked to swallow this tripe is absurd. Based solely on that, I would recommend never picking up this book, but the story itself is just as awful. The CSA Means envisions seperates the races but makes them truly equal. But freedom in the South is a tenuous thing, and if you're bad, you're sent to the "badlands" of the industrial wassteland that is the North. The Vice-President's son(a mixed-up kid cliche), is kidnapped by an SLA-like northern group and taken to the former USA, where he learns that things like the mixing of the races and secular humanisim are all great things that the South has denied itself. No arguments from me about the positive aspects of TRUE racial equality and whatnot, but he becomes a Patty Hearst type, falling in with his kidnappers. The book offers no real insight into the workings of the CSA, except for a few token paragraphs about how the President is always white, the Veep always black, and how the two chambers of Congress are one white and one black. Also, the University of Virginia built an identical campus just for blacks, and it can be assumed that these Jim Crow-esque rules apply accross this nation. It's all rather sad, as the opportunity to explore what a real victorious South would be like are lost. Why would the North, with all it's resources, be turned into a wasteland by the South? Why would everyone be so happy with segregation? Means seems to think that race relations in the South would be better than our current state of affairs because seperate but equal is truly achieved. But come on! Assuming that the South won, wouldn't slavery, although logically eventually abolished, last longer, and wouldn't the kind of seperation depicted in the novel be impossible in a South that would have been slave-free for such a short amount of time? CSA paints the Confederate cause as flawed but right, which is downright stupid. The book insulted my intelligence again and again. For a good review of what a victorious South would look like, see Harry Turtledove's "Great War" series, which starts with the excellent "How Few Remain". He paints a much more realistic portrait of Southern victory, which results in a CSA and USA, which is what the South wanted, anyway. Read that series, which paints vivid portraits of historical and fictional charachters, not this mess of a novel that had me itching for my $4.99 back.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing Premise, Shaky Plotline
Review: While other reviewers focused on the historical implausabilities of the plot, to me the most intriguing thing about the book is that it posits that blacks would have been much better off if the South had won the war. The blacks in the fictional CSA have a large professional class, a great deal of wealth and are every bit the equals of whites in science and in business. There's none of the awkwardness, divisiveness and resentment that marks current racial attitudes. There's no underclass, and at the end of the book we get the sense that the races are headed towards integration. It's a pretty radical premise. The plot itself is quite awkward-- we don't see much in the way of motivation for John Henry running away to join DRAGO, (or why other blacks don't seem as bothered as he is) and the Lucy-Jason romance can be seen a mile off. There are also lots of holes in the historical plot-- Means makes no mention of how the separate-but-equal society handles TV, movies, music and the like. He also has the CSA marginalize anyone who is less than 77% racially "pure." But the black elite (before and after the Civil War) was comprised mostly of mixed-race, light-skinned blacks-- Means doesn't mention what happened to them. He also doesn't fill us in on population data- blacks are around 25% of the population of the current USA-- how outnumbered are they in his CSA? The book is a quick read, and I'd pick it up for the questions it raises. Too bad it leaves so many of them unanswered.
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