1901

Rating:
Summary: 1901
Review: Definitively a book to be missed.A great premise full of possibilities ruined by an author who has absolutely NO idea of weapons,warfare and the military.I am sorry that i bothered to buy it, i am sure that it will be widely available since no one will want to keep it, unless as an example of what NOT to do ..........

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Summary: Great First Book
Review: For fans of "what if," here's a first book by a new author with a totally fresh direction. Most of us are tired to death of alternate Civil War and WWII books, and also truly worn down by the slow pace of Harry Turtledove's various efforts. Now here's a chance to grab a really different, fast-paced book.

The Kaiser invades the US in 1901, pissed off that we won't give him our Spanish-American war winnings. The small American standing army is no match for his disciplined troops. Whatever shall we do?

The book is gripping and well-thought out. Sure, it's not always plausible. It's a little difficult to imagine that American civilians, heavily armed and violent, just as they still are, wouldn't be nastier to the sour Krauts. It's also pretty hard to imagine General Longstreet tottering out to lead US forces. And too many real figures suddenly die off our step aside. Also, as other reviewers have noted, the romance subplot is unnecessary and a bit stiff.

Still, the book is a romp. Many figures are accurately portrayed, including TR and Kaiser Wilhelm.

The best testimony that this book can get is from various Germans who have sniveled that their army wasn't so barbaric and the kaiser wasn't an unstable nut job. Yeah, and I'm the queen of Sheba!

There's a REASON our grandparents rallied to "Beat Back the Hun With Liberty Bonds!"

Set skepticism aside and have some fun reading this. And let's hope Conroy writes more.

Rating:
Summary: A good read the first 3 or 4 times
Review: Good read for alternate history, Civil War, and WWI buffs.
Got the book several years ago in hardback and have dusted it off a good number of times since. I plan on rereading it again in a few years, TGLW.

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Summary: An empire for the Kaiser
Review: I enjoyed the premise of this book quite a bit. Kaiser Wilhelm is a villian of history to begin with, and the early autocratic Germany was portrayed very well. The post Spanish-American war America also seemed to fit in well with the history classes I have taken. What I did wish for is more plot development. The obligatory love story could be shifted to the margins in order to more fully develop the German army and naval service. I would have loved to see more detail of the tactics of both sides, especially the different philosophies behind the new battleships. All in all, a good quick read, and I will look forward to more from this author.

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Summary: Interesting premise spoiled by amateurish dialog
Review: I got this book based on the premise, which sounded extremely intriguing. Unfortunately, the book appears to be badly in need of both editing and rewriting. The characters are wooden and ill-developed. To describe the dialog as stilted would be an insult to stilts everywhere. There are long periods between battle sequences and, said sequences really being the raison d'etre for the entire novel, it's very hard to care about the one dimensional characters whose misadventures and witless spoutings make up the bulk of the novel.

There are books that you buy and put on your bookshelf to read and reread over the years. Then there are books that make you glad the library doesn't charge for it's services, because it would be a terrible waste to lay out good money for such atrocious reading. Sadly, this is one of the books in the latter category.

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Summary: Read it over and over again!
Review: I loved this book as soon as I started in on the first chapter. I had to remind myself that this was fiction, but the way Mr. Conroy portrayed the historical figures he a throughout the book it feels all to real.

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Summary: Just doesn't feel like it's 1901.
Review: I read this because it was on someone's list of favorite Alternative History stories. However, people didn't talk like that then. Read some novels written around 1900 or some of TR's letters and the lack of historic flavor will be evident. Also the lack of patriotism is not credible. I doubt the state of New Jersey would fail to assist New York & Conn if they were indeed invaded. -- just one example.

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Summary: disappointing approach to Alternative History
Review: I sought this book out with some enthusiasm; the premise of a turn of the century conflict between the German and American "Empires" seemed to be fertile ground for some alternative history making. Instead the author chose to make the Germans into essentially two-dimensional cut-outs of evil storm troopers... such as
- commiting countless atrocities - slaughtering prisoners, pillaging and raping without a second thought, shelling cities without essential military value.
- the Kaiser is painted as a mad-man. From my reading, he was an egotist, and not too bright, but not a monster.
- would the desire for an Empire cause the Germans to start a cross-Atlantic war without securing at least an entente with other european powers?
- If the Germans wanted to "steal" an empire, wouldn't they consider invading little Holland next door, who had a large colonial empire, were militarily weak, and thereby not risk picking on a nation larger in population, across the ocean?

The atrocity episodes could have been written as a response to partisan activities by american patriots (as they were in Belgium in 1914); instead they are commited without any apparent goal in mind. There are but a few German characters who question the overall merits of such an approach.

The American Army of 1901 is armed with single shot black powder rifles in the book, but I recall them having the magazine fed Krag rifles of 1898...

Overall, a missed opportunity for opening another road through history's "What-Ifs"




Rating:
Summary: INCREDIBLE! Lots of fun, couldn't put it down!
Review: If you love historical fiction, you will love 1901. The plot moved quickly and the characters and action were very realistic. I highly recommend this novel even if you are unfamiliar with this time period. ENJOY!

Rating:
Summary: The shot falls short
Review: Mr. Conroy's premise is excellent and unique among alternate histories, but falls short in character and plot development. He also needs a bit more work in doing battle descriptions. The worst however is the too neatly tied ending that reads like the author decided to pirate history for a conclusion instead of being unique. Reads a bit like the Siberian troops in World War II arriving to stop the ravening hordes of the germans. Finally, no sequel that carries the historical changes on to alternate conclusions. A relaxing bit of a read, but falls short of it's potential.