Rating: 
Summary: "Center holding all right"
Review: The second part of Turtledove's yet unfinished American Empire trilogy is a distinct upturn from the last one, Blood and Iron. It continues the saga of begun in How Few Remain and continued in the Great War trilogy, and we continue to follow some of the characters into the 20's and 30's. For new readers, this is an ongoing chronicle of an alternative world in which the Confederate States of America managed to gain independence from the US, later to join with Britain and France against Germany and the United States in World War I. Blood and Iron, its predecessor, consentrated on too many characters over too long time and as a result became a bit too patchy at times. The Center Cannot Hold continues this trend in the first half, leading up to the Great Depression, from which the book changes greatly in style and quality. It focuses from there on the Freedom Party's quick rise to power in the CSA, closely following that of Hitler in our own world. We view this process both from the top, as seen through the eyes of chairman Jake Featherstone, and from the literally bottom, as experienced by Hippolyto Rodriguez, a poor peasant from the backward Confederate region of Sonora who gradually becomes enticed by the party's message of "getting even". Unlike Blood and Iron, which left me rather disappointed, The Center Cannot Hold has left me truly looking forward to the next chapter of this saga.
Rating:
Summary: Picking up the pace
Review: this book has left me wanting more, the next is a must read. it has set the scene for a major WW2 showdown between North & South. I like other reviewers would like to have seen more of the outside world than was mentioned, but you can't have everything.
Much better than the definitely dreary Blood & Iron.
Picking up a few new characters is nice, but letting a few more go to God would have cleaned up the stage a little.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Not Great
Review: This book is very much the middle of the series, and though it has the usual strength of Turtledove it has some flaws. The majority of the viewpoint characters are excellent, especially if one has seens them change over 5 books. That being said some don't do a lot and seem to be waiting for the forthcoming The Victorious Opposition.
The history itself is well done, with amusing and chilling parallels to real history-with the disadvantage that it limits creativity. The war with Japan is a letdown, and the book can ramble, but
The Center Cannot Hold does its job: It sets up the next book and the forthcoming "Great War II" series, and it continues to evoke the reader's emotions positive or negative towards Harry's excellent cast of characters. The other flaw is one of editing, Harry slips on some minor details in the novel that show that this may be a bit rushed. The commercial stresses on Turtledove are hurting him, but its a gripping read, and the third in the series will be interesting.
Rating: 
Summary: I really enjoyed this book
Review: This is a good book. It is a little slow in quite of few places but this book is not about war. It is about what is happpening in the USA, CSA and a little about the world. I wish Mr Turtledove did cover the war in Mexico a little more. This book goes more into the people then into battles. I think that this will help with the next book. There is alot of people in this book with hate so I believe the next book will have the begins of a war. WWII? We will have to wait and see.
Rating:
Summary: a good book
Review: This is a very good book overall, however it just seems to mirror our true history.i.e Freedom party(Nazi). But still a very good book
Rating:
Summary: excellent fact-based alternate history epic,but...
Review: This is an outstanding fact-based alternate history epic if it weren't for the graphic sex scenes involved.The facts and figures are kept in sync with the what-if and what-then of such matters.
Rating:
Summary: Stumbling into war
Review: This is the second book in the American Empire series. It is also a much better one than the first. It does, however, have many of the previous book's faults. The improvement between this book and the first in the series is very noticeable. However, it is difficult to quantify. One of my main complaints against the first book was that the "alternate" part of this history was too reminiscent of real history: the Freedom Party was a poor man's Nazi Party, the massive inflation that hit the Confederacy was exactly the way it happened in real-world Germany after the First World War. The Center Cannot Hold does a much better job of making things different and interesting. There is a rebellion in Canada, tensions start flaring up between the Japanese and the United States. A civil war erupts in Mexico. All of this is wonderful news to the alternate history fan. This is what we like. Sure, some events are still the same (the Freedom Party is still the Nazi party, the Depression happens just like it did in reality), but there are enough differences this time to make it harder to guess what's going to happen. With all that being said, there are still numerous faults in this book, which makes it so that I have to qualify my recommendation. The writing is still very bland and boring at times. Turtledove still has an annoying habit of emphasizing things by repeating them. Every time we see Nellie Jacobs, there is some reference to her having killed the father or her oldest daughter in the previous series. There is always a reference to how she really distrusts men, with the occasional reference to how this isn't quite always the case with her current husband, but still is most of the time. It gets really old, really fast. It gets even older if you've been reading the series since the beginning and getting this every time Nellie appears in the book. The constant re-introduction of Turtledove's characters is his main writing fault, I believe. I know that there are a lot of characters to keep track of, but either he should trust the reader to be able to keep track or lessen the number of characters in the book. Secondly, some of the characters are still beyond useless and very uninteresting in the bargain. I'll go back to Nellie again. I have no idea where her storyline is going, but her entire family has to be the most annoying and boring characters around. Their story doesn't seem to have anything to do with the ongoing story in the book. This wouldn't be so bad if they were intriguing in some way, but they aren't. They're just there, and they bring the book to a screeching halt every time they appear. There is some sign at the end of the book that they may finally play some small part in the next book. I hope that's true, as maybe they might finally get interesting. Thankfully, most of the other characters have developed some sort of interesting story. The intention seems to be to illustrate various aspects of life during this time period, and a reaction to the national events that happen. Chester Martin, for example, is the everyman who has to deal with the Depression on the ground. There are a couple of black characters who seem to be in the book mainly to give a black perspective to the rise of the Freedom Party. At least they are interesting characters as well. Turtledove is not afraid to kill some of his characters off, so you're never sure exactly what's going to happen to them. One of the deaths, in fact, is so out of the blue that I initially wondered if Turtledove just couldn't find anything to do with him. I then realized that it illustrated something about what was going on, and I admired Turtledove a lot more for it. While he kills some of his characters off, he also introduces some new ones. So far, these seem better then some of his original characters. The final problem, and I have a feeling it's going to be a problem in the next book as well (it was a big one in the previous book) is that it covers such a long period of time that it seems very disjointed. This book covers events from 1924 to 1933. A lot of events happen offstage and we only see a reaction to them in hindsight. Thus, there is no real flow to the book. A clear indication of this is the last few chapters. These chapters all take place in 1932-33 and talk about the coming election in the Confederacy, and the United States' reaction to it. These chapters are gripping, even as you know what's going to happen. There's a pace to them, a tension that makes you want to finish them. This is missing from the earlier chapters, and definitely indicates the problem. Thus, I must qualify my recommendation for this book. It's much better than the first. However, if you don't have an interest in alternate history (or even history in general, as I think this series would be of interest to the historian), then the writing of this book will really turn you off. As it is, you have to almost ignore it because you want to know what's going to happen next. This series seems to be doing almost nothing but setting up the coming Second World War. Thus, you go through it feeling almost like you're running in place, waiting for something to happen. I feel that I like this series a lot more than I should just because I like where the destination is. Unfortunately, the journey is kind of a long, dry one, almost an endurance test. Keep that in mind if you pick up this series.
Rating:
Summary: The Saga Continues
Review: This is yet another excellent title in an intriguing series featuring an alternate history in which the Confederacy won the Civil War. It then goes through the constant struggles between the USA and CSA up to and through a WWI in which the USA sides with a victorious Germany.
This installment takes us from the late teens (post WWI)through the roaring twenties and into the Great Depression. One without FDR.
While this title, like others in the series gives background on what has already occurred it is highly advisable for beginners to go to first title and start there. The background is more of a refresher for those of us who have followed the series.
Turtledove does an excellent job in tracking a multitude of different storylines and charactors. He seemlessly blends them all together and in some places overlaps them without causing confusion like so many other authors.
His imagination combined with historical facts and events are a pleasure to follow. The storyline continues to parallel in a way what occurred in this reality but with a twist. All the lines seem to be based on subtle human tendancies. It is quite easy to see how these could have happened here in this reality. Including an alternate Hitler figure based in the CSA who targets blacks rather than Jews.
I cannot wait for the next installment and see how the budding Hitler figure reacts along with the potential cold war between Germany and the USA. Not to mention a rising Japan and a Canada which is under USA occupation.
Rating:
Summary: A Different Turtledove
Review: This second volume of the American Empire series covers the 1920s and the first part of the 1930s in an alternate America where the South won the Civil war and another war between the states in the 1880s. America is getting its own back with a victory over the Confederacy in the Great War, World War One. This book covers the years of recovery for an occupied Canada and the Confederacy. Socialist presidents cause a depression in the United States, and the world goes on and on and on. This book covered a longer time period than is usual for Turtledove, and it frankly isn't as interesting with a war around to keep things going. Oh yeah, there is a war, but strangely, no one seems to really notice. I hope this is just a phase and we can get back to the good stuff soon.
Rating:
Summary: Alternate History, Flawed By Unbelievable Actions
Review: This series started with "How Few Remain", which had the South winning the Civil War, aligning with France and Britain to humiliate the North in a 2nd Civil War, similiar to the Franco-Prussian War. This series is intelligently written. It's flaws have been Turtledove's meandering style of visiting a character for a couple of pages to see how the world has been impacting that character, and to reveal through that character what had been happening in the world; and the fact that Turtledove all too often has his characters and world perform unrealistic actions based upon the author's need to take his story in certain directions. Both of these flaws are evident here, although one flaw is greater than the other. In this instance, the flaw is the unrelaistic actions which occur in this book. A dwindling number of readers might remember Pearl Harbor. Most should remember the events of 9/11. In both instances, the USA united demanding vengence on the attacker. Therefore, if a foreign power attacks the USA, it is to be expected that the American reaction will be one of outrage and a quest for vengence. Well, not in this book. Los Angels is bombed by the Japanese (for reasons which remain unkown) and the reaction of the USA seems to be pretty much of a yawn. This is just absurd. As matters stand at the start of this book, the USA and it's ally, Germany, remain victorious in this world's equivalent of WWI, having defeated the CSA, Britain and France. Disgruntled Confederate soldier Jake Featherstone was well on his way to becoming the Adolf Hitler of the CSA, when his plans were derailed by an unauthorized assassin's killing of the president of the CSA. Covering a period of about 10 years, we witness the Great Depression of this world, which results in absurdities. FDR managed to obtain public support and help to restore public morale by the socialist actions he took; however, this book has a socilaist as president whose actions are ineffective on every level. Much of what is to come is predictable, such as the character who ends up running a prison camp during Mexico's civil war, and later works a jailer in Birmingham, Ala. I don't think you need worry what this person will do when concentration camps open in the CSA. Still, what will be truly interesting is how this series depicts the eventual version of WWII between the USA and the CSA. If the author tries to compare post-WWI France with his version of the USA, a mistake will have been made. France had a large, well-equipped army, and actually had better tanks than the Germans of 1940. But France had the Maginot line, and a large army, and importantly, not a very long frontier between the two nations. The USA and CSA share a border spanning thouands of miles. This means there would be vast changes between the French army of our world, and the USA army of Turtledove's story. Newcomers should start earlier in this series. This is a well-written series, but be prepared to quibble.
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