Rating: 
Summary: More Alt-Hist from the Master
Review: "Blood and Iron" is the first of the author's interwar trilogy. It's set between 1918 and 1923. The series is based on the idea that the Confederacy won at Antietam, won the Civil War, won what is called the "Second Mexicn War" 20 years later, and while allied with hardly mentioned France and Britain lost to a Teddy Roosevelt-led USA allied with the German Empire ("Kaiser Bill" is still in charge Over There as the trilogy commences).
This series is pure alt-hist. No invading space aliens, no magic; and it contains all the plusses (and alas the minuses) Mr. Turtledove's readers have come to expect. We have the usual vast array of characters, most of whom are carried over from the WWI trilogy, from different social classes and different parts of the alternate world (among my favorites are Lucien Galtier, a farmer in what is now the free repubic of Quebec and the delightfully revengeful South Carolinian Anne Colleton, who's lost her plantation to an uprising by black communists in the previous trilogy and now schemes with a crackpot facist, Jake Featherston, to gain power). Most of the characters are fictional, although Upton Sinclair appears here as a Socialist candidate for president of the USA and, in the most interesting flight of his imagination, the author imagines General Custer had never met up with disaster at Little Big Horn and has survived until the 1920s, where he is engaged in fighting terrorism in USA-occupied Anglophone Canada at the age of 80.
Those are the plusses. As for the minuses, well--Mr. Turtledove just can't do sex and he really shouldn't bother (just put in three dots when the hot stuff starts and move right along please) and while he tries to be helpful to the reader, reminding who this particular character is (and some of them reappear only 80 pages apart), we do not need to be told that Custer's adjutant is overweight every time he puts in an appearance, nor that Boston factory-worker Sylvia Enos paints red rings on yellow galoshes. Then, too, while the problems the author poses are often fascinating, his solutions are sometimes too simple (a criminal case is made to disappear with amazing ease).
Fans of alt. hist. in general, and fans of Mr. Turtledove are unlikely to be deterred by these minor annoyances, however.
Rating: 
Summary: A Bad Writer Gets Even Worse
Review: Alternate history is an interesting subgenre. It's interesting enough to make a person willing to read an awful book like this one just to imagine a variant timeline. Unfortunately, by now in this series things are wearing really thin.Let me make the obligatory comment that Turtledove is simply a poor writer, period. He has no sense of dramatic flow, cannot frame a scene properly, and his characterizations are pathetically one-dimensional. His motto is: "Repetition, minutia, and more repetition." In addition, this book has the problem of taking place over 60 years after the event which separates its world from ours. One of the charms of alternate history is the placement of historical characters in a completely new situation. By now, of course, most historical figures born before 1862 -- the "change date" for this series -- would be dead. And, as another review pointed out, real people in our history born later might have the same name but would be different persons with different genetic makeups. Yet, Turtledove gives us Herbert Hoover and Calvin Coolidge, and in brief anonymous cameos (presumably) the Marx Brothers, Ernest Hemmingway, Robert E. Howard, and Franklin Roosevelt (in a wheelchair, yet!). And maybe Arthur Godfrey, since he replays Godfrey's famous "Hubert Heever" gaffe. Without the device of a "real" character, the story has less of a chance to connect with the reader. Alternate history also should tell us some underlying truths, as all good fiction should. Turtledove's stories never do, really. To borrow a phrase from someone else, his novels are examples of typing, not writing.
Rating: 
Summary: Baby Steps Towards War
Review: American Empire: The Centre Cannot Hold is Part 2 of the "American Empire" trilogy, a group of three books whose sole purpose is to bridge the gap between the Great War and an inevitable World War II. For those who aren't familiar with the plot line to date here's a quick recap. The CSA won the War of Secession in the 1860's then beat the USA in the Second Mexican War in the 1880's. (That story is told in "How Few Remain", the first of the books in this series) After yearning for revenge for over 50 years, the USA finally beat the CSA in the North American theatre of the Great War. A Versailles-esque settlement is supposed to keep the CSA down, but instead it leads to hyper-inflation, the stock market crash, depression, and the rise of Jake Featherston's Freedom Party (who are the spitting image of the Nazi's). The Centre Cannot Hold runs between 1924 and 1933, and Dr. Turtledove brings back his usual group of characters to try and tell the story of his alternate world. Ultimately, this book has the same flaws that Blood and Iron did: no flow, boring one-dimensional characters, and the lack of conflict exposes Turtledove's flaws as a writer. Trying to cover ten years in 500 pages obviously isn't going to be easy, but it is very frustrating as a reader seeing Turtledove gloss over things that actually might interest me (such as the Mexican Civil War or the rise of Fascism in Europe) to read about Scipio frying fish or Nellie Jacobs arguing with her daughter for the millionth time. Putting Sam Carsten, Clarence Potter, or anybody in Europe would have been easy to do and it would have added so much to the story, but instead we get more formulaic garbage about sunburns and the Galtier's drinking cider. This ties in with my second complaint: the characters are boring. During wartime it is ok dealing with one-dimensional characters but with no war on the lack of development in the characters is painfully obvious. All they do is work at mundane jobs, have kids and die while the author drives home ad nauseum their reason for being in the book. Scipio used to work for Anne Colleton, Nellie Jacobs killed Bill Reach. We get it. Ironically, the only character who seems to have any depth at all is Jake Featherson, who we are supposed to hate. One positive I must point out is that Turtledove has toned down his love scenes in this one, which is much appreciated. They were more creepy then erotic, and while they could be cut back even more, this is a step in the right direction. I give this book three stars and a very mild recommendation assuming you've read this far in the series. If you haven't, read How Few Remain instead.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful! Keep 'em coming Harry!
Review: Another wonderful saga of alternate history that started with How Few Remain. Again Turtlecove continues the story of the divided continent and the buildup of tension in the Confederate States of America, Occupied Canada, and the United States of America. All our favorite characters are back - some are older and wiser, some just older. The plot really ticks along compared to some of the earlier books, but is interesting nonetheless. Any alternate history fan should be reading this - I feel like this could really have happened . Go Canada! A suggestion Harry: for the next book, don't just put in a map of North America, but a world map with all the different countries and empires and also the alliances. From the tone of this book, I feel the alliances will come into play in the next one. Also, I think I know who that Jew-hating German sergeant with the General was ;).
Rating:
Summary: Time SLOWLY marches on...
Review: As usual I couldn't wait to lay my hands on the newest by Harry Turtledove. In reviewing/rating this volume I have rather mixed feelings. I read the entire book at one sitting until 5:30 AM , so it must have been compelling enough... For the time line of the story we pick up the characters in the early 1920's. Jake Featherston is in the throes of rebuilding the Freedom party after the Whig president is killed. Abner Dowling is transferred to Utah as General Pershing's assistant.Irving Morrell is sent into durance vile for having the temerity to criticise national policy , and Anne Colleton continues to seek power (difficult for a woman in those times) and complain about the Confederacy's lack of leadership. Other characters grow up. Others reproduce. Some die. Basically the book is an overview of "the times" that Turtledove has created in an alternate universe. The careful reader with some historical knowledge will find both Adolf Hitler and the Marx brothers hidden within the fabric of the story , which I found to be amusing. There are probably others that I missed on my first reading. I will, as usual , read it again. My major complaint with this particular series is the dreadfully slow pace due to the microscopic focus on the mundane lives of some fairly inconsequencial individuals; perhaps Turtledove has bigger things planned for Scipio and Anne Colleton later on , but WHEN? I intend to continue reading this series just to see how it turns out. Overall impression: good but not great ; needs to speed up the pace A LOT! Sadly only 3 stars when it could have been more if it covered more ground at a somewhat faster rate!
Rating:
Summary: American Empire: The Center Cannot Hold
Review: Best in the series. Turtledove does a great job in showing a broken defeated nation, could not face reality and instead listend to the lies of a tyrant rather then face the truth. By showing a Hitler like character (Featherstone) could arise anywhere, Turtledove does a great service. The analogies between history and fiction are excellent, but are different enough to leave you guessing what is going to happen. By turning some episodes and events on their head (Hoover leads the US through Depression)it remians an alternative history and nor merely a parallel of what occured.
Rating:
Summary: But shorter, please!
Review: Considering how much Turtledove publishes, the man must work without stop or sleep - and it shows in the writing. But, oh what great stories he has to tell! This book is set in a universe were the South won the civil war (and the next one), but lost the Great War - a story told (sometimes ad nauseam) in 4 books so far. Ten years, 1924 till 1934, are covered: the recession and subsequent rise of a Nazi-style party in the South are the main topic. In typical Turtledove-style a lot of characters tell their stories, add their perspective to a fascinating picture. Some of them are IMHO useless, some should be killed of (one is) ... and on top of it all, the book could do better with 100 pages less. But I repeat: the style of writing and the details of this book may be bad or tiresome - the overall result is not. Turtledove manages to give a very good impression of what life was like in a defeated, impoverished country with discredited elites. Show the conditions that made possible the rise of authoritarian regimes all over Europe in the 20s and 30s - in this book it is the South. Now I wonder if it is just a coincidence, that the Hitler-like Jake Featherstone begins his radio addresses with the statement "I am going to tell you the truth". Are the not some talk radio hosts who use similar phrases? What makes this book more interesting than the last one from the series is that while it's alternate universe remains close to the real one, it gets more history of it's own: f.e. Japan and the USA already clash in 1932. All things considered this is a great read for those already familiar with the series. For me a toss-up between three or four stars. And I'll give Turtledove the benefit of doubt and also look forward to the next installment. But shorter, please!
Rating:
Summary: Yes and the next one please!
Review: Eventually here I am at the end of the second book in the American Empire series. Sadly I have to say that the ending was somewhat predictible and I found it lacking in stability of a good story line. Japan attacking America was far too early for my liking and would Harry please deal to Anne Collerton. She is now so boring and that even I flicked through her chapters with total non challance. A brief burst of excitment in a somewhat mundain storyline was the obvious inclusion of one Adolf Hitler, although not named. Good to see Utah flareing up again. However Sonora looks likely to pull a few suprises if anything in this book was to go by. On the whole the series is bogged down in the throws of the "tween wars" years and finishing at 1933 was somewhat annoying. 1936 would have been a better year, the CSA hosting the Olympic Games prehaps. Too many characters remain and should have been left out (albeit temporarally), if not killed off just to give a more focused story line.(some new fresh face wouldn't go amiss either) Jake Featherston is going to be the anchor for the next book(s)and I hope that the third edition hurries us into the enevidable...WW2. All in all a little too predictable, and somewhat dull but for a Turtledove fan, necessary reading to keep the chain of global events going. Roll on Victorious Opposition!
Rating:
Summary: Ready for the Next One!
Review: Harry Turtledove has again proven to us all that he is the Mastor of alternate history. This book compliments a series that i have been engaged with ever since reading How Few Remain. The only other series of books i have enjoyed more is probably the Lord of the Rings. But anyway, back to Harry, he has again managed to weave important facts and details that explain the world in which he writes about, into the lives of the individual characters, all without detracting from the narrative flow. Sure, some might say that he repeats some things too often, but that is an extremely minor flaw in his writing. The only major problem i see is that he has a few too many characters, but in this book he does weed out some, however i think he weeds out the wrong ones. It is probably just my personal preference that makes me think that, but i hope the ones he left in will play an important role in his next book, which i cant wait to read!
Rating:
Summary: Gathering Darkness
Review: Harry Turtledove's American Empire series, of which The Center Cannot Hold is the second volume, is faster paced and better focused than his Great War series. This volume covers most of the 1920s and the early 1930s. The USA is a proud, confident nation, now ruling most of Canada (Quebec is a semi-independent satellite republic) and parts of the Confederacy. President Upton Sinclair has successfully introduced democratic socialism, and the stock market is booming. Then, shortly after the inauguration of Hosea Blackford, (husband of Flora Hamburger, one of the more appealing characters) world wide economic crisis brings on the Great Depression. The US, with its economy sinking and struggling to defend itself after a Japanese surprise attack, returns to laissez-faire capitalism and begins to rearm.In the CSA bad keeps going to worse. The South limps through the 1920s until the Great Depression deals it a body blow. In such times the traditional political parties have no answers, and more and more Confederates turn to the charismatic Jake Featherston, who promises to rebuild the CSA, avenge its defeats, and punish the blacks who stabbed it in the back. The book ends with a chilling inaugural parade as Featherston is sworn in in Richmond.I'm glad to see that Turtledove has let us know more about what's going on in the rest of his world. Britain and France have strong Fascist/Featherston style movements. Imperial Germany and the USA dominate the world, but are beginning to eye each other uneasily. Japan has swallowed the former French and Dutch empires and is salivating over British and American possessions.There appear to be at least two more volumes to come in this series. Many intriguing possibilities are hinted at. Will the USA recover fromt he Depression and meet an emerging Confederate military threat? Will Flora Hamburger Blackford restart her political career and rise to the top? What will Featherston do to the blacks he so hates? Will there be a realignment of alliances? The stage is set for some fascinating twists and turns.
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