Rating: 
Summary: A time of peace or vengence?
Review: Turtledove's alternate history in which the Confederate States of America wins the U.S. Civil War continues. Here he picks up where the Great War series ended. The United States of America and its German allies have defeated the C.S.A. and its allies. Telling the story from the points of view of over a dozen different characters, Turtledove skillfully describes the aftermath of the war in both countries. The C.S.A. suffers under the draconion punitive terms of peace forced upon them by the victors, and suffers runaway inflation and general discontent. In the U.S.A., victory gives way to labor strife and a change of administration shifts the political priorities.
Turtledove does a good job of using his alternate history to hold a mirror to our own history. The conditions he describes in the C.S.A. are similar to those of Germany following the first World War, and give rise to a reactionary political party led by a bitter ex-soldier and fueled by racism and violence. He also explores the changing priorities of the victorious, and how they impact various segments of the society.
As with all of the books in this series, the multiple viewpoints helps to provide a balanced view of the events, showing pros and cons for both the U.S.A. and the C.S.A. While a future conflict between these two countries does appear to be inevitable, it will be interesting to see what additional parallels Turtledove draws in the remaining books of this series.
Rating: 
Summary: A Disappointing End or A Disappointing Beginning?
Review: American Empire: Blood and Iron is the follow up to the Great War series and this book is supposed to put to rest World War One and transition towards an alternate World War II. To do this, Turtledove follows the day-to-day exploits of the large cast of characters we've come to know and either love, tolerate, or skip past. Sylvia Enos struggles as a single mom, Cincinnatus Driver adjusts to life in the USA, Reggie Bartlett sells cough syrup, Arthur McGregor continues to plot revenge, et cetera. The main plotline in the CSA surrounds Jake Featherston and his "Freedom Party" (an obvious parallel to the Nazi's), which sucks in a couple more regular characters, Jefferson Pinkard and Roger Kimball, while in the USA the Government is going Socialist, which means Flora Hamburger is moving up in the world and there are drastic cuts to the military. As someone who enjoyed How Few Remain, American Front and Walk in Hell (and wasn't overly thrilled with Breakthroughs), I found myself quite disappointed in Blood and Iron for a couple reasons: Firstly, there seemed to be little closure to the Great War, especially in the USA. Once the war is over, people just start going about their lives again like nothing ever happened. Rather then try and explain the impact that the war has had on society we get pages of Lucien Galtier talking to his horse and Sam Carsten burning. Secondly, I thought this book would give Turtledove a chance to add a new dimension to his characters, a type of in-depth look at personalities that would be lost in a book that focuses on telling a war, but there was none of that. Instead the characters still remain just names on a page floating aimlessly through their lives rather then appearing as "real people". On the plus side, I found it much easier to skip large portions of this book knowing that I wouldn't be missing out on anything important. The Martin's fighting at dinner again about politics? Who cares, next. Nellie Jacobs arguing with Edna? Who cares, next. Anne Colleton controlling the world somehow? Yawn. Sam Carsten studying and sunburnt? Well, you get the idea. I give this book two stars, because, frankly, I don't think it is any good. There are some isolated portions of the book that are enjoyable, but once you get 200 pages in and realize that nothing is going to happen you begin to lose interest. The lack of plot, conflict, character development, and the disturbingly frequent graphic and creepy sex scenes all contribute to this being a stinker. If you haven't read any of the Great War Series, do not start here.
Rating: 
Summary: Turtledove's Look at the birth of a Nazi Confederacy
Review: I see I'm not the only reviewer who sees obvious parallels between the Freedom Party in an early 20th Century Confederate States of America and the rise of the Nazis in Germany between the two world wars. Turtledove draws some intriguing, obvious parallels between both that aren't so easy to fathom until you reach the end of his novel. It's one of his best recent efforts at alternate history, easily eclipsing his "World War" series for its quality of pacing and plotting. Anyone who wonders why Harry Turtledove should be regarded as the master of the alternative history genre of science fiction should definitely read this fine book.
Rating: 
Summary: If I only knew.......
Review: About 100 pages in I realized that I could have gained a lot of insight about the world presented in this had I read the The Civil War Series and the Great War Series.
This book presents short looks at people lives and how the war from the previous series has effected their lives. In that way I think the book is great as it shows how political decisions effect those people's lives. I did think the book lacked an over all story. I understand that the book is part of a series but even one book in a series must stand on it's own in someway.
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