Rating: 
Summary: Saccharine-sweet slaughtering
Review: This alternate history starts off great with the British war party urging an attack on the United States. Get in there, give the damn colonials what for, says the reader. Sure enough the commander goes over there and attacks the wrong side. I have absolutely no problem with this. There was far worse stupidity and incompetence in the real-life Crimean War a mere 10 years before. There follows a hugely enjoyable scene of mindless slaughter and rape (you don't get many decent rape stories these days) and then the novel falls to pieces. The syrupy sentimentality that seems to afflict all Americans kicks in. The Northern and Southern commanders get together to drive out the dastardly Brits and become the best of buddies and the southereners volunteer to abandon slavery. From then on nothing can go wrong for the Americans and they defeat the British at every turn. What utter bollocks. The two sides would never have been able to sink their differences to that extent and the high command's main concern would have been to keep them from one another's throats. In the Crimea the British and French were more interested in fighting each other than the enemy. In the novel that should have been written we would have seen all this. Slavery wasn't an issue anyway. Lincoln was quite prepared to tolerate it if that would preserve the Union. The trouble is that Harrison is such a good writer. I suspect he popped his clogs afater the Biloxi incident and the book was finished by someone not nearly as good. I have no objection to the two-dimensional nature of the characters. As we never get to know and love them, we can enjoy the senseless massacres that bespatter nearly every page. Neither do I have any problem with the way Queen Victoria is portrayed. The mad old bat was exactly like that. "Butty" for comrade is perfectly good 19th century usage: you work buttock to buttock in the mines. "Buddy" is a later variation.
Rating: 
Summary: Just some throughts about the review of this book...
Review: When reading some of the reviews of this book by some I am struck at how critical they are of it. They go on as if they do this for a living and could support themself. For example A.E.Brain writing about how when Britian attacked the south by mistake on Mississippi was a mistake (I asume you know what the state flag of Mississippi looks like). NO well it is Red,White,and Blue Stripes and in the dark with filed glasses could be mistaken at night as the US Flag. And the fact at that time the "Brits" feelings about the US, They only supported the south to hurt the whole of the country so yes they would then continue the attack Because of the fellings in England about the defeats of the war of 1812. And as for the attack on the Black Prince her armor was thiner than the Virginias, and as for the reconciliation Lincoln gave the south the out it wanted because the war was not about slavery but STATES RIGHTS. And there right to rule themself,Lincoln had some plans along those lines but was not able to bring them to fruitation because of the congress at that time and the abolitionist element. So when faced with this war reconciliation would have happened.While I agree it is fiction, alot of the element if it had happen is still fiction thus not try but remember These were brothers and cousins, and remeber the enemey of my enemey is my enemey. They attacked and killed americans so america as a whole will strike back. I have family and we fight but if you attack my family I will attack back with them. So it stands to reason alot of this could have happen if the book had been true. But remember it is an Alternate history book so at the end of the day when the story is over it is still FICTION. And can only be reflected and writen by a person living 100years after the fact, With only speculation to rely on. So for all persons who have been very critical of this book and the story I await you book in the book store on the same topic.
Rating:
Summary: FANTASTIC ALTERNATE HISTORY!
Review: The Premise for this book is pretty good(a British invasion of both the CSA and USA). It kept me reading constantly and seeing blue and grey fight beside each other is a real treat in itself. This book is Alternate History at it's best.
Rating: 
Summary: Any Resemblance to History almost coincidental
Review: I was sorely disappointed with this book. Harry Harrison is one of the better authors. But this book didn't just strain my disbelief suspenders, it snapped them.The original premise, the Trent affair, an excellent beginning, thoroughly believable. I was ready to really enjoy this book. The attack on Biloxi OTOH was a bit much to swallow, but given the Army Reforms in England were still half a decade in the future, and blunders nearly half as bad happened in the Crimea, I can almost believe it, with difficulty. Almost. It's a hell of a stretch though. The South and North collaborating against the foreign foe, as the result, well, maybe. As a once-off, not completely implausible, more believable that the original attack. But the Brits then just saying "Oh, we attacked the wrong side accidentally? Never mind, let's just have a jolly little war against both sides for the hell of it." That's not "Alternate History", that's Fantasy. They'd just as likely invade Russia, France, Prussia and everyone else at the same time to make it sporting, using bladders on a stick instead of firearms. The British armed forces of the period may have been ( actually were...) staffed with more than their fair share of incompetents, but their political officers were first rate, viz India, Africa et al. Elphey Bey excepting, but even he wouldn't have unilaterally declared war on Russia for example. The Naval Battle at the end of "Stars and Stripes Forever" is a farce to any Naval Architecture Historian of the period. Sort of like a cruiser crushing a battleship by dint of the cruiser's superior guns and better protection. The Monitor didn't do more than batter the Virginia, taking almost as good as it gave. Against the Black Princes' greatly superior protection, and vastly superior heavy weapons, it would have had no chance, let alone it being a cakewalk for the Monitor. But this didn't really matter, as I'd pretty much given up by then. The book is relatively well written, but this just makes the book more disappointing to anyone who knows the details of military history. Numerous minor inaccuracies re number of rounds in a magazine, sizes of guns etc show carelessness, minor pecadillos but niggling. If you're going to have technospeak about weapons, get it right. To someone who hasn't more than a superficial knowledge of history, it would be more enjoyable, hence 2 stars.
Rating:
Summary: the future
Review: Having read Stars and Stripes Forever, I eagerly awaited the next installment. It was worth the wait to read Stars and Stripes In Peril. But I was very disappointed, for several reasons. The main one is Harrisons interpretation of the the difficulties in Ireland. Very simplistic and very grand. here is little in the way of the bitterness of the past and indeed of the present in the book (the time period). The oversimplistic viewpoint on the depredations of the Europrean powers in Mexico. It was all too clean cut. A previous article dealt with Lincoln, indeed he appears to be a simple yes man. A good read, but not too hot for Irish readers, even though Irish liberation in the 19th century would have saved a lot of grief. Michael Vernon, Co. Armagh, Ireland.
Rating: 
Summary: Better than Turtledove!
Review: I began reading hopeing to find something different than that of the usual negative Confederate alternate history, and this was to an extent. Harrison kind of rode the fence on the actual causations of the war in this book. While the story was great, I had a problem believeing that the Confederates would just say,'What the heck lets go back into the Union.' The secession of the states and wanted independence was what the war was fought over. The South wanted to be it's on nation. Just like the Colonists in the Revolutionary war, they wanted their own country. It would have been a tooth and nail fight for the Confederacy to join back in the Union. Would the Colonists have joined back with England if the Chinese or somebody had invaded America? NO! The Confederates wanted their own nation. However, I do believe that they would have come together to throw back an invasion, but they still would have wanted their independence. For instance, when General Bullers attacked Mississippi and asked the dying Confederate about, '...whose flag this was?' He replied,"..ain't no dang yankee flag." That right their says that the South wanted independence over everything. I did however like the images of Blue and Gray clad soldiers fighting side by side. Maybe Harrison will talk more about the Confederacy's independence desires in the other two books of the Trilogy.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable but flawed
Review: I have to admit that I enjoyed reading this book. Another reviewer accuses Harrison of wish fulfillment and I have to agree, but I sympathize with the wish, so I enjoyed the ride. That's what's good about the book and gets it both stars. My next wish would be that he didn't have to resort to so many divergent points to make his outcome seem plausible. In his interview in the back of the book, he states "Prince Albert's death occurs just a few weeks earlier in time. Then we watch the ripples spread out from this change: how one after another, events are altered, small changes growing into larger ones until there is a new history that is just as realistic as the one in the history books." I will grant him that I don't find this version completely unrealistic. No single event in the book is completely implausible. (Some history buffs may disagree with me and I can only claim laymen's ignorance.) However, to call the alterations he makes "ripple effects" as a pretty far stretch. How on earth did the premature death of Prince Albert lead to the changes in Union personnel the author suggests? (One is out of commission by falling on railroad tracks!) While I find it plausible that the British action in the South might be enough to focus the attention of both on a common foe. The British action itself, however, I am asked to not only find plausible, but somehow likely given the state of war between the Union and the British. Ripple effect? More like throwing a handful of pebbles (and one outrageous rock) in a pond. And this, after criticizing the "killer asteroid strike" as "Showy perhaps, but very easy to write." (Was that a dig on Turtledove's World War series?) The laymen in me enjoyed the book, but I like to feel like I've learned something real about history by reading alternate history. So, I am also disappointed to read so many reviews that point out historical implausibilities and factual errors. As a non-expert, I am relying on the author to be an expert. In summary, it is a nice smooth ride for jingoists like myself, but too full of flaws to recommend. I will probably read a sequel, if there is one, and hope that he uses the ending point as a single starting point this time and doesn't just keep throwing in random disruptions in the space-time continuum.
Rating:
Summary: Simply dreadful....
Review: After reading facinating 'The Hammer and the Cross' trilogy, I was ready for more by Harrison. I thought I had found it, but although 'Stars and Stripes' starts off with a bang, it squanders that promising beginning. What could have been an engrossing alternate history dwindles down to a foregone conclusion by mid-novel and all the reader is left with is page after page of stilted dialogue to wade through. That is when Harrison hasn't launched into another battle scene featuring the complete rout of the British. The Idea that the world's greatest sailors would have made such a error as to attack Bilouxi instead of Deer Island is laughable. The characterization is equally dismal. Abraham Lincoln, rather than being the stoically courageous, though somewhat depressed figure of history is relagated to being a simple yes-man who rarely disagrees with anyone. The many, many times where someone new is ushered into the President's office grow deadly dull after the first two such incidents, as do the constant, 'Well if you can do that, I will be in your debt,' pronouncements from Lincoln. I wish I had picked up something else at the bookstore. Maybe another S.M. Stirling novel, or tried one of Turtledove's AH tales.
Rating:
Summary: Relax and have fun with it
Review: I admit it, I had fun with Harry Harrison's "Stars and Stripes Forever." Despite a couple of minor historical errors, Mr. Harrison has written a historical novel that feels historical. The characters and their voices belong to the ninteenth century, not the twentieth. This will irritate the sort of reader who thinks Lincoln sounded like a TV news anchor, but it is a nice change from Victorian infantrymen who seem to have fallen out of a James Jones novel. "Stars and Stripes Forever" is not "The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the Union", but it's worth a look if you understand that the Civil War happened in the 1860's, not the 1960's. It is also a nice counterpoint to Harry Turtledove's unquestioning worship of the Confederacy. Thanks Mr. Harrison. By the way, the historical errors are on pages 45 & 284 where the New York draft riots happen more than a year before conscription went into effect in March 1863; and on page 69, when "Stanton" attends a cabinet meeting on December 25, 1861, three weeks before he became Secretary of War on January 15, 1862. There is also some geography trouble on page 85 when Tenessee and Kentucky switch places.
Rating:
Summary: Big Ego in the way
Review: This is the third AH book I have read about the Civil WAr era. I find that this book holds its own against the other two. My problems with this book didn't start until after I finished reading the book, and read the afterword. For Harrison to state, "Events, as depicted in this book, would have happened just as they are written here." is laughable. If not crazy of him. After reading that line I began pick holes in the book. It was hard for me to believe that the North and South could unite again so easily. As if all they needed was some spark to make them forget why they broke up in the first place. Especially when you consider that all those reasons are still their when they reunite. I also found that the rapid growth and adoption of US technology was a little too unbelievable. Harrison asks you to close your eyes to believe his story, but then he goes and says it his all true. It was too much for me. I also found it hard to picture a sequal. To me after was wrapped up to neatly to suggest a sequal. The only thing we as readers can think and argue about in the long, long time in betweens books is this vague British response. Their is no cliffhanger at the end of this book to make you go out and get the next one.
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