Rating: 
Summary: Brave New World...
Review: Anyone who read "Great War: Breakthroughs" knew what was coming in "American Empire; Blood and Iron:" An angry Confederate soldier looking for black scapegoats and leading an army of ... bullies into a bid to smash the CSA's social structure. Turtledove's main problem in "Blood and Iron" is predictability. He faces the challenge of writing fresh new Alternate History without just superimposing real-life ... Germany upon his own Confederate America. If he just puts real history into a parallel universe, there will be no mystery. However, the alarm bells go off very early in "American Empire:" Freedom Party founder Anthony Dresser is but an alter ego of the first-ever German ..., Anton Drexler; and Jake Featherston becomes party member number seven, as did a certain Austrian-born corporal with proven speaking talents in Munich, Germany. Since "Blood and Iron" concentrates on the Confederacy, this reader hoped Turtledove would develop not only characters who would follow Featherston, but also those who might oppose him. There are many of the former, but only one or two who turn, or might turn, into enemies of the Freedom Party. And there is no indication that those may take up arms against the CSA's fascists. Again,a situation reminiscent of that in 1930s' Europe. The result? Turtledove's Alternate History helps his display his knowledge and his considerable gift for research. But his plots are far less imaginative than they appear at first. Despite this worrisome trend, "Blood and Iron" still makes for a good, easy, humor-sprinkled read ("Hey, if Teddy Roosevelt isn't President, do you really think he'll just go and shoot lions and elephants in Africa?"). Turtledove deftly mixes the amusing and the tragic in the General Custer subplot. He capably moves back and forth between the anxieties of the victors and the wrath of the defeated. So, the word on the street? Buy and read, as long as you don't care for surprises.
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Summary: Good alternate history, but not his best work
Review: Continuing the alternate history begun in How Few Remain, and continuing with his rather tedious "Great War" saga, Turtledove continues with his multiple point of view technique which worked very well with two viewpoint characters in "The Guns of the South" and less well with a dozen-plus. It doesn't take much knowledge to know where Turtledove is going with this new series. An unjust peace is imposed on a proud country, with shrunken territory, loss of most armed forces, and crippling reparations. Then, a war veteran who served as a noncom starts a new party, as the country experiences hyperinflation. The party has a uniform, a two-syllable chant, and blames the War Department and a minority group for losing the war. Riots soon ensue, and a temporary (no doubt) setback for the Party. But here, it is not Germany, it is the Confederate States. We await with dull anticipation the rise of power, Riechstag fire, Olympics, Rhineland (US-occupied Northern Virginia, no doubt), Munich Pact, and finally, the Second Great War, all certainly coming in future books, it is just a question of how many books. We'll be shelling out a few bucks before Jake, I mean, Adolf, I mean, Jake, hits the bunker. The politics are the most interesting point in this book. I could have wished that Turtledove had done as he did in "Guns of the South" and published the election returns, state by state, for his US election of 1920 and CSA election of 1921. Turtledove has certainly written another page turner. I wish, however, he would come up with a new idea as innovative as time-traveling Afrikaners in "Guns of the South". Maybe he could do something with the Revolutionary War or War of 1812, and build a new world from there. In summary: Better than the Great War books, worse than "How Few Remain" and not even close to "Guns of the South". The WorldWar books with the aliens, I gave up on halfway through the third, so I can't compare it.
Rating: 
Summary: Blood & Iron a Bridge Novel
Review: Harry Turtledove's new American Empire series begins with Blood & Iron, and starts where the Great War left off. The Confederate States are shattered and are a good imitation of Weimar Germany. Inflation is out of control. Society is shattered with the dislocations from the war. Extremist groups are on the rise. Turtledove brings back all of the surviving Great War characters. Not all survive in this transitional work. The action covers the period from roughly 1918-1923. The war is over, but the aftershocks remain. I enjoyed it very much and was surprised at how well Turtledove was able to make Jake Featherston a believable budding American (Confederate) Hitler, and Irving Morrell as an American (Yankee) Charles De Gaulle to be. Revenge is the theme for almost all of the characters. The tone is thus a little more bitter in some respects than the preceeding works. That matches the circumstances of the 1920's fairly well though and is definitely believable. A couple of glimmers of light are allowed to show through though, and love blooms in some unexpected areas. The only down points in the book were that (a) this is a bridge novel with all the limitations of the same, and (b) a couple of the more likable characters turn less likable. Both character twists made sense in the context of the circumstances. I had not expected either of them though, which shows Turtledove did his job well. He surprised the reader. I would recommend Blood & Iron to any Turtledove Great War fan. He has very effectively taken the dislocations of the European experiences in the Franco-Prussian and First World War's and believably applied them to America -- North and South.
Rating: 
Summary: A Real Page Turner
Review: Harry Turtledove has done it again with American Empire : Blood and Iron! His combination of technology, politics, and the human spirit made reading this book a real joy. (By the way his recap of all of the main players at the beginning of the book is an excellent idea. Brought me quickly up to speed about what had transpired in the past.) I liked the pace of the book as well. The timeline was expanded somewhat (from about 1917 to 1923) but that made for more interesting postulating about what could have been instead of a 400 page novel on the history of an alternate Great War... Hopefully this timeline will continue in future novels.
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Summary: Turtledove continues his grandiose epic.
Review: Blood and Iron brings us back to a world that was born during the American War of Secession, and has been visited before in How Few Remain and the Great War trilogy. We are shown a North America consisting of not three countries (Canada, the USA, and Mexico), but of five (those three, plus the Confederate States and the newly formed Republic of Quebec). World War I wasn't a conflict that went on overseas, either. War was waged all over North America, from the American Southwest to the Canadian Mainland. The Americans and their allies won, the Confederates and their allies lost, and the peace brings prosperity to the victors, and crisis upon crisis, poverty, resentment and hatred to the defeated. Mirroring our own real world, the defeated dream dangerous dreams, of regaining their territories, their pride, and their freedom. Turtledove brings back old characters whom we've grown to love or hate, and introduces us to new faces, each with its own story, conflicts, thoughts, fears, dreams, hopes, virtues and sins. This is a damaged world, nightmarishly different from ours, still recovering from the wounds of the last war while getting ready for the next conflict. I find the best part about this book and the rest of the series is the way Turtledove depicts the wars through real people, enough so that there are no good or bad guys, just human beings, and readers will often root for completely different sides, be it Yankees or Rebels, Canadians, Quebecois, Red Souther Blacks, New Yorker Socialists, etc.... This book builds on solid ground, and weaves a fantasy so real, you can't help but wonder how on earth couldn't all this have happened.
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Summary: The Stage Is Set For WWII!!!!!
Review: Harry Turtledove continues his sprawling saga of the Confederate Nation in the aftermath of defeat. Prices are rising as the currency devalues, the old way of life is fading fast as the CSA must pay reparations to the USA. All of our characters return, as they try and rebuild their lives following the war; Jake Featherston builds his Freedom Party to restore the CSA, along with the help of Anne Colleton and Roger Kimball in an eerie parrallel of Nazism. While the Confederates try to rebuild, Flora Hamburger and the Socialists try and wrest power away from Teddy Roosevelt and the Democrats to salvage a USA wracked with labor strife, while the soldiers of the war desperately try and hang on to the strength that helped them win. There is little war in this novel, but Turtledove sets the stage for a WWII pitting CSA vs USA in a most interesting way. As we end the book, Featherston is considering ways to spread his message of hatred via radio broadcast, and there are tantalizing hints of former Confederates fighting in various wars in South America (think Spain in the early 30's) who are bringing information about barrels (tanks) and other techniques of war home for future use. That Turtledove will make Featherston his Confederate Hitler is a foregone conclusion, but it remains to be seen how the next war will play out as there is little info in this book as the state of the Confederacie's allies, England, France and Japan, and there are hints that the USA doesn't exactly trust the German allies that helped them win. I said it after Breakthroughs, and I'll say it again, DAMN! I wish he would write faster!!!!! One year plus is a looooong time to wait between books when they are this well written!
Rating:
Summary: A better effort
Review: American Empire is the best effort yet in the Great War series. I think Harry does a better job of sticking to a central theme instead of drowning us with too many characters and sub plots. I found the story believable because its based on what really happened in post war Germany. In this book , the once proud CSA is mired in defeat and economic chaos right after WW1. Harry chronicals the rise of the 'Freedom Party' and its angry leader, Jake Featherston. This is really the central theme of the book. Other characters such as Roger Kembell, Anne Colleton, R. Bartlette and J Pickard are all strongly effected by the rise of this politcal party in different ways. I think Harry did a good job of explaining how ordinary people may react in extraordinary times. Another major point was how the rise of the Socialist Party in the US affected world events. This a politcal party that wants to forget the war and move on letting the CSA off the hook and rearm later. (This is big mistake France made in the early in 1930's) All in all, Harry based the whole book on events that generally happened in Europe in the 20's and 30's. Its not exact mind you but if you know your history you can appreciate what Harry has done with this book. Its a good read.
Rating:
Summary: Damn Fine Book
Review: After what seems to be three years of waiting, Mr. Turtledove delivers once again. I read the book in a day, yes a day.. I loved it. Of course, I'm sad that its over now. ;|
Rating:
Summary: The saga continues
Review: Turtledove's intriguing alternate history tapestry continues to take shape. The reader would be well advised to read the earlier books in the series despite the introductory synopsis of the prior volumes in the series. All the tried and true characters appear again, including Jake Featherston of the CSA, a home-grown facist intent on seizing power. It is staggering to realize how easily Turtledove's vision might have been our reality. I recommend this book highly.
Rating:
Summary: Turtledove is getting sloppy
Review: This volume, the latest in his alternate history series envisioning an America in which the Confederate States won the Civil War, takes place in the aftermath of the First World War. The United States has finally defeated the Confederacy on the third try, carving out slices of territory from their defeated foe and levying a punitive - and ominous - indemnity. The Confederates, embittered by an unaccustomed defeat, lick their wounds and plot to revenge themselves. All of this is told through the lives of the same cast of characters from the previous three volumes, which provides a degree of continuity as the reader sees them make the transition from war to peace.
More than one writer has commented that alternative history is primarily an offshoot of military SF, with so many of the pivotal events - and the stories in which the alternative worlds are portrayed - revolving around wars. Turtledove's series is no different, though this is the first volume set in a time of peace. The challenge is different as a consequence and the author rises to it, maintaining interest through an accelerated pace (seven years are covered in this installment) and through a more tumultuous adjustment. He also evidences considerable imagination; rather than simply replicating historical events in his imagined setting, he provides a new narrative (with his Hitler-esque character rising up sooner and derailed by a different set of events) that keeps the plot from being too predictable.
Yet there are also signs of fatigue in this volume. Whereas the plotting and historical background in the earlier novels are tight, here there is evidence of considerable sloppiness. Signs of discontinuity are appearing (the name of Theodore Roosevelt's vice president has somehow changed from Kennan to McKenna, and the introduction of steam catapults a quarter-century before their actual development seems more due to poor research than anything else) and several characters seems to be in a holding pattern with little to do. While there is no doubt that fans are eagerly awaiting the next installment of a series that they enjoy (and that those fans will enjoy this volume), Turtledove seems in danger of sacrificing quality for speed, when a more carefully written and edited work would do more to sustain the intriguing world he has envisioned.
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