Rating: 
Summary: Great concept; starts off well, bogs down, spurt at the end.
Review: Turtledove has to spell out every detail of his alternate world. When I say spell, I mean S P E L L it out. Did I mention he goes on and on and on...If you get this book, I recommend reading the first 100 pages, then skipping to the last 50 pages. Without spoiling anything, here's all you will miss: The bad guys are B A D, but some are worse than others.
The good guys have to fight against prejudice and greed.
The wheels of change turn S L O W L Y, especially in a Turtledove novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Great for what it is, but...
Review: I really enjoyed this book when I read it back around 1995. However, I was disappointed that Turtledove, with all his historical expertise, couldn't find any better way for the South to win. The book starts out reading like a power fantasy, as the rebels suddenly find themselves able to overpower the Union troops who have been grinding them down. It does get better once the war is over, and Lee has to face the long-term consequences; but the premise still feels pretty gratuituous. Turtledove went on to redeem himself with How Few Remain and its sequels. How Few Remain starts out with a short scene describing a much more reasonable horseshoe nail (the North fails to find a dropped message carrying the South's battle plans), and moves on to explore the horror that would have ensued if the US had been divided. Trench warfare in Kentucky in 1881...
Rating: 
Summary: The South gets some REAL guns
Review: In Guns of the South, a group of South African white supremacists travel back in time to alter the course of history. Specifically, they provide the AK-47 rifle to Robert E. Lee, and such a modern weapon was bound to change things. The novel begins just before the Virginia overland campaign of Ulysses Grant in 1864, and the battle of the Wilderness has a different ending. The book details the scenario of the Confederates getting the upper hand in the U.S. Civil War, and the fallout from that. Many major figures are portrayed, and despite being somewhat hokey at times, it is a fair and probing depiction of Civil War characters such as Grant, Lincoln, Judah Benjamin, Nathan Bedford Forrest, Jefferson Davis, Ben Butler, and most prominently of all, General Lee himself. Lee is portrayed as an honorable man who is thrust into roles he does not desire, yet fulfills his duty to the best of his abilities. The slavery issue is a major theme in the book, as the South Africans (known as the Rivington men, since that fictional North Carolina town is their home base), want to make white domination a world trend that will last into the future. The post-war scenario creates conflict with that issue, and the whole novel is an intriguing alternative history. The viewpoint of North Carolina sergeant Nate Caudell is another theme in the book, and the view of an ordinary soldier in the midst of the Wilderness campaign is one of the better sections. So the perspectives of those in power and the common man are both presented. Finally, I have read a lot about the Civil War, but somehow I didn't get the significance of a certain Northerner who moves to the South after the war, and eventually joins their army. If the name Henry Pleasants means anything to a Civil War reader, he is in this book and you can take a guess at what kind of unique military operation he gets involved in.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book, though not what I expected
Review: I originally thought this book would use time travel simply as a starting point, and then go into what could realistically have happened had the South won the war. But, time travel continued to play an important role throughout the novel, especially at the end.
Still, I can't fault the book just because I had faulty expectations for it. Guns of the South is an incredibly detailed and engrossing book, and one that I would heartedly recommend. It was the first Turtledove book I had read, but it will not be the last!
Rating: 
Summary: Surprising realistic
Review: I am a history buff, so when a friend recommended this book to me, I picked it up without really knowing what it was about. I'll even admit to being oblivious even to the cover art that gives some of the plot away. I was very pleaseantly surprised at just how such a far-fetched premise could be inserted into the lives of actual real-life figures so smoothly. This book appears to be flawlessly researched, and the characterizations are 1st rate. A very believable work of historical fiction with a unique twist and a MUST for all "War Between the States" aficionados.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT!
Review: On a scale of 1 to ten, I thinks this is the best, number one book to deel with the REEL causes of the Warr Between the States. IT WAS NOT SLAYVARY! Maybee now peeple can tayke a reel look at histry, wich is is always invanted by the victorers.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating look at "what if"
Review: What if the South had won the Civil War. I remember reading a children's book about that in boyhood. While most of that kind of book had a pivotal event (usually at Antietam or Gettysburg) that went the South's way rather than the North's, Turtledove posits a deliberate interference with history. South African white supremicists come back from 2014 to interfere with history. The book begins with the Army of Northern Virginia in winter quarters in early 1864 at Orange Court House, Virginia, somewhat licking its wounds after the Gettysburg campaign. General Lee (one of our two viewpoint characters) is writing a routine letter to President Davis when he hears most unusual gunfire outside. As events transpire, mysterious men (revealed later to be our futuristic South Africans) have come to offer him a virtually unlimited supply of AK-47s and ammunition for same. Almost from the start the South's leaders realize that there is something wrong here. The guns are very advanced, and no known factory can have made them. The South Africans' leader tells Lee, in confidence, about their futuristic origins. But as the South makes good use of the guns, and secures its independence, the question still remains--what are the intentions of these men who saved the South? As I mentioned, half this book is told from Lee's perspective; half from the perspective of Nate Caudell, a sergeant in the 47th North Carolina and (in peacetime) a schoolteacher. Caudell turns out, though he never meets Lee, to be a pivotal character in what transpires. As has been mentioned by other reviewers, there is a long spece in the middle when not much seems to happen. I still found this time interesting. Certainly, Turtledove is known for his military-based novels, but the middle part of the novel remains interesting to me. I found it odd that the South's leaders were so willing to (at least temporarily, and to some extent) change their views on slavery when faced with modern-day volumes which considered slavery a horror. Not one says, "Well, in that timeline, we lost the war, and our view was not heard. We'll be writing the history books now." However, there had to be some goal for this book, beyond the mere victory of the South, and Lee's plan for the gradual elimination of slavery does as well as any. With one side bearing AK-47s, how many "Civil War" battles could Turtledove have written about? He was right to wrap up the South's victory relatively quickly, and move on to other matters. Thank heaven Turtledove has resisted the temptation to write a sequel to this one. One of the best alternate histories ever written. Buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely brilliant!
Review: I read this book several years ago and I must tell you that to date, it is the best alternate history of the civil war I have ever read. I suppose this won't surprise any of you that read this that are already fans of Dr Turtledove. For you that don't know much of Harry's work, I recommend that you start with this book. You'll love it.
Rating: 
Summary: Man Beat Up By Book!
Review: I've been assaulted by a paperback! I could (and not just for my anti-confederate tendencies) relate to the plight of the Federal infantry pushing through the walls of lead on that Wilderness road. "The Executioners Song", is a great example of a novel that seeks to recreate events in a nearly minute to minute basis... Guns of the South, in spite of it's promising premise is not. Written like the old Cheech and Chong "Summer Vacation" skit, it attempts to wring extensive exposition out of everything. Leaving the reader no choice but to skim first paragraphs, then pages, and nearly entire chapters at a time- with no signifigant loss of overall comprehension. As tiring was the constant use of AK-47 throught the novel. Granted, there's no way to spell it out, but perhaps more use of the term "repeater" or some local slang added more character, and a greater sense of integration into the time period... PoZi (;=
Rating:
Summary: Guns of the South ROCKS!
Review: I cut my teeth in the early Eighties with alternate history from the late Randall Garrett's Lord Darcy books. Ever since I picked up Harry Turtledove's alternate histories of the Civil War starting with this book right here, I'm hooked. I've got a BA in American History so for me, knowing the world we live in and it's past and being able to compare it to Harry's world is great fun. I've loaned my copy to other friends to get them hooked too! Thank you Harry for a world that could have been. When I pick up one of your books, I can't put it down till it's done.
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