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The PROTEUS OPERATION

The PROTEUS OPERATION

List Price: $5.99
Your Price: $5.39
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Propaganda is too harsh a word, but not by much
Review: As in Endgame Enigma, or The Two Faces of Tomorrow, Hogan has crafted an interesting story that is absolutely destroyed by being drawn out and yet entirely without substance, but worst of all is Hogan's obviously fanatical Libertarian views. Perhaps he's trying to be another Heinlein, who was one of the loudest and most idiotic voices of Libertarianism, despite his excellent books and stories. Endgame Enigma confirmed my socialist beliefs, The Two Faces of Tomorrow confirmed my support of gun-control, and The Proteus Operation confirmed my belief that Hitler was evil not just because he was insane, but also because he was an overzealous conservative. Good job, Mr. Hogan, despite all your efforts against it, you've made me a commie, or a hippie, or a bleeding-heart liberal, or whatever it is that you foolish Republicans fear so much.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Entertaining Mixture of Secret and Alternate Histories
Review: Financed by a rich oligarchy losing their power and influence in a prosperous and peaceful 21st century, Project Overlord decides to create a world more to its liking. A world in the past, a world where Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party are more than just obscure players in German political history.

They succeed, and the novel opens in 1974 with an America grimly preparing to fight the final battle against the Nazi menace which spans the globe. The Proteus team -- commandos, physicists, and politicians from that doomed world -- travels back to 1939. There they will attempt to reshape history with political manipulation and atomic weapons.

Hogan not only does a nice job of building an alternate timeline which diverges from ours in 1930's Germany, but he also details the history of Nazi aggression in our world and constructs, through the Proteus team's efforts, a secret history of our timeline. Or is it? Hogan, establishing the mutability of history, keeps the reader guessing as to the outcome of what seems to be our past.

Along the way, he not only gives us the expected historical figures of Churchill and Roosevelt, but also physicists Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, and Edward Teller. And there's an odd young writer named Isaac Asimov hanging about too.

I have one minor complaint with this novel. Hogan belabors the explanation of the quantam mechanics he uses to move the plot. However, his detailed explanation was probably necessary for those for whom this is their first exposure to the idea, presumably a fair number of the technothriller and alternate history crowd who should like this book as well as Hogan's usual science fiction reader.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Entertaining Mixture of Secret and Alternate Histories
Review: Financed by a rich oligarchy losing their power and influence in a prosperous and peaceful 21st century, Project Overlord decides to create a world more to its liking. A world in the past, a world where Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party are more than just obscure players in German political history.

They succeed, and the novel opens in 1974 with an America grimly preparing to fight the final battle against the Nazi menace which spans the globe. The Proteus team -- commandos, physicists, and politicians from that doomed world -- travels back to 1939. There they will attempt to reshape history with political manipulation and atomic weapons.

Hogan not only does a nice job of building an alternate timeline which diverges from ours in 1930's Germany, but he also details the history of Nazi aggression in our world and constructs, through the Proteus team's efforts, a secret history of our timeline. Or is it? Hogan, establishing the mutability of history, keeps the reader guessing as to the outcome of what seems to be our past.

Along the way, he not only gives us the expected historical figures of Churchill and Roosevelt, but also physicists Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, and Edward Teller. And there's an odd young writer named Isaac Asimov hanging about too.

I have one minor complaint with this novel. Hogan belabors the explanation of the quantam mechanics he uses to move the plot. However, his detailed explanation was probably necessary for those for whom this is their first exposure to the idea, presumably a fair number of the technothriller and alternate history crowd who should like this book as well as Hogan's usual science fiction reader.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good book, could use a little editing....
Review: Great story, my only complaints were that the first half of the book tends to drag on and on with details of these characters lives in 1940, which, frankly weren't that interesting, or relevant to the plot. My other problem with the book was that the whole premise of time running at different rates seemed to be rather contrived, just being created as a plot device, because there's no need for urgency otherwise if you've got time travel. The last third of the book is excellent, cleverly written, and full of action, and I still reccomend this to anyone who's a fan of time-travel or World War II. It wouldn't hurt to brush up on your knowledge of pre-war British Politics and the Manhattan Project first, however.....

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Propaganda for the populus
Review: Hogan missed his calling in life. He should have directed propaganda films for the U.S. in the forties. All of the German characters are written to be the ultimate in evil while every American or individual aligned to the allies is written as a Christ-like figure. Hogan lives in a fantasy land of his own where the U.S. can do no wrong. His recreation of how Churchill, Roosevelt, and Einstein are portrayed is in direct conflict with several biographies out regarding these men. Hogan must have lost some relatives in Aushwitz and this book is his way of chest-thumping that the good old USA won the war. Anyone who has taken at least one history class in college regarding WWII can read this book and laugh to their hearts content. Only problem is he's trying to be serious.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Disappointing, I can't recommend this book.
Review: I am interested in alternate history, science fiction, World War 2, and Winston Churchill, but I couldn't get enthusiastic about this book. The plot was not very interesting or suspenseful. The characters seemed undeveloped - I didn't care about any of them. A real disappointment.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Tres Cool!
Review: I don't remember being this wrapped up in a science fictionstory since I first read some of HeinLein's work while in my early teens 40 years ago. I really look forward to getting more of this man's work.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Alternate History and Time Travel an outstanding mix...
Review: I rarely re-read books but I have, this one. James P. Hogan combines alternate history, hard science fiction and suspense. He gives us fictionalized famous figures from history as well as characters we care about. Set in a bleak alternate 1975 where the Nazi's had won World War II, a team of scientists, soldiers and other specialists go back to 1939 to change the course of history. An interesting twist is that they are not the only one's who do. Mr. Hogan is thorough in his research and has really thought his scenarios out well. There is sentiment but a very real one, not sappy or maudlin. In between there are twists and turns in the plot that keep it all interesting.

There have been many alternate history stories but this one stands out with that added twist of time travel and it's implications.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Alternate History and Time Travel an outstanding mix...
Review: I rarely re-read books but I have, this one. James P. Hogan combines alternate history, hard science fiction and suspense. He gives us fictionalized famous figures from history as well as characters we care about. Set in a bleak alternate 1975 where the Nazi's had won World War II, a team of scientists, soldiers and other specialists go back to 1939 to change the course of history. An interesting twist is that they are not the only one's who do. Mr. Hogan is thorough in his research and has really thought his scenarios out well. There is sentiment but a very real one, not sappy or maudlin. In between there are twists and turns in the plot that keep it all interesting.

There have been many alternate history stories but this one stands out with that added twist of time travel and it's implications.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: If at first you dont succeed...
Review: I really enjoyed this book. Alternate history, time travel theory, and Mr Winston Churchill. You dont have to have a major in history to appreciate whats going on. But if you are familiar with the time period, you'll enjoy the name dropping and seeing the events unfold and take shape. Very much recommended.


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