Rating: 
Summary: Please Listen General Lee
Review: When I first visited Gettysburg I found myself looking out at the distance that Pickett's division had to go in the face of cannon and musket fire and thought, "No Way." This place was exactly like Fredericksburg: uphill, against an entrenched enemy that was waiting for them, only the attacking uniforms were Butternut Grey rather than Blue. The result couldn't have turned out any different. I looked south, towards Washington, there had to be a place down there where Lee could find a hill for the Union to have to charge. Lincoln wouldn't have let the Army of the Potomac not attack.I looked, I thought, I didn't do anything about it. Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen looked at the same situation and researched it some more. They found that Meade had really wanted Lee to attack him at Pipe Creek. They found that Longstreet had told Lee that going around to the south and letting Meade attack them, but was overruled.==Then instead of forgetting it, they wrote a book where Lee responded to Longstreet with an "OK, let's do that." -- Excellent reading, obviously this is the first of a series. I'm anxiously awaiting to see what happens when Gingrich and Forstchen bring Grant back east.
Rating:
Summary: Great Alternate History
Review: Worthy of Harry Turtledove.
Well written "what if" about Lee winning the Battle of Gettysburg. It was plausible and made for enjoyable reading. It fleshed out characters from both sides of the war in a human way. I recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: Great fun and a great read
Review: You will find two sets of reviews for this book; one set are Civil War buffs and the other set is politically motivated. The Civil War buffs had a great time with the book and found it to be well worth the money. The politically motivated cannot get past hating the author and never gave the book a chance. If you want to hate the author, this series is not for you. If you are looking for a history of the Gettysburg Campaign, the book by Sears or Coddington is recommended.
I am a Civil war history buff and like many of this type something of a Gettysburg nut. When the book came out, I refused to even look at it and said very nasty things about it on the www. Many of the alternate history Gettysburg books are nothing more than junk written for the "Lost Cause" crowd. These books have nothing to do with history and less to do with entertainment.
One afternoon in Borders, with nothing else to look at, I pick this up ready to hate it. In about two pages, I was hooked! The more you know about the Civil War the more fun the book is. However, if you know nothing about the war, this is still a great read and may start you on a life long interest. The book is so good and the historical descriptions so accurate that some buffs worry that people will not understand this is fiction,
"Gettysburg" is a very logical, very well written alternate history. The things that change the course of the "real battle" are all possible. The change in R.E. Lee that makes most of the story possible did occur about a year later. Yes, the CSA has a run of good luck but a good history of the battle of Antietam will show you that is possible.
This is the first book in the best alternate history series on the market. My advice, buy "Grant Comes East" at the same time and save on S&H.
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