Rating: 
Summary: Frustrating & Frightening
Review: This book contained many interesting insights into this alternate world, from the essentially undeveloped technology to the political & cultural differences that may have been possible. But from almost the 2nd chapter I began to dislike the lead character. By the end I was so thoroughly disappointed by his success I threw the book against the wall. To live in a society where monarchy, duty and class are not only unquestioned but brutally defended is truly a nightmare. It makes one have a little more pride in our forefathers to think that losing the American Revolution would have not only kept alive such degenerate and stifling monarchical institutions but have embedded them even further into the worlds consciousness. Perhaps the authors intended this to be the tragedy that I read it as. Freedom of thought leads to freedom of action. Indeed, none save the 'Sons' in this book had any such notions and theirs were impure at best. Still, such unquestioning obedience to authority as displayed by the 'good guys' here is disturbing.Very plausible! Very frightening!
Rating: 
Summary: The Two Georges- Fine Turtledove
Review: But Richard Dreyfuss? I mean, come on. You know you can't read it without hearing the voice of Richard Dreyfuss in your skull for several hours. As fascinating as the story was, I couldn't help but feel aggravated. Why couldn't the guy have said he was like Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, if he insisted on name-dropping? Sheeeesh.
Rating:
Summary: An interesting view of an America that could have been
Review: Although extremely fascinating setting, not the best scenario
Rating:
Summary: A THOUGHT PROVOKING NOVEL
Review: Many of the following negative reviews seem to disagree with Turtledove's and Dreyfuss' portrayal of American society in a world were the American Revolution never took place. These readers question the different societal mores, conventions, level of technology, and racial integration that this different America possesses. Let us not forget, however, that the very premise of alternate history states that the world would not be the same if certain historical events had occurred differently. By leaving our prejudices aside and reading between the lines, we can actually conclude that Tutledove's and Dreyfuss' alternate America seems plausible enough. Although the plot at times moves at a snail-like pace, the storyline eventually gains momentum and finishes up with a bang. Ultimately speaking, this novel embraces the reader with its gallant characters, creative storytelling, and thought-provoking implications.
Rating: 
Summary: RU sure this wasn't written by Mike Myers ?
Review: To me this reads more like a satire of American attitudes to Britain... I mean... Steam Cars !?
Rating:
Summary: I f I could, I'd say 4.5 stars
Review: I love Alternate History! I must say that this is my first Turtledove but I've been reading Cynthia Harrod-Eagles and William Martin. I had to go at this alternate stuff. Although, through hunting the subject, I've noticed that nothing I've read seems to be technologically more advanced. I read one book that had the premise of a slave rebellion in 1859 in which seven plantations around Virginia slaughtered their masters' families and burnt the fields. They succeded in seizing the capitol. These were 50,000 enraged slaves wanting a revolution. Eventually, though, they were crushed by Lee's marines. So really, that little event which apart from 2000 dead, is minor. Yeah whatever. It caused the Civil War to be avoided when Northerners decided all blacks should be either hung or jailed. Back to this book. It was excellent. You really like Dr. Flannery, Bushell and Sam. I read the 1996 hardcover 1st edition so some of the fantastic jokes and one-liners may have been taken out so that all you readers who read it last month think it was absolutely nothing but boring garbage. Now, as kid, I lived al over the world. I developed an interest in US history because that was the closest I could get to my country. So I know quite a bit about the Colonial and Revolutionary era. This is perfectly plausible. Excellent premise with an awesome criminal-mystery storyline to it. Like the critic above, I couldn't get the thinking of who would develop the script, cast theactors and hire the director. That was annoying because I was trying to picture a world without famous actors or directors and only silent flicks to sleep at as Bushell likes to do. There is good action and I thank the publishers for including the maps in the beginning. It helped alot. Also I liked the vulgar Dick Nixon in this book. Another thing, you people give away all the good stuff. I read one review and was tempted to skip ahead and read the best end sentence in history.
Rating: 
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: I wish I had read these reviews before I read the book. It would have saved me a lot of time. I almost stopped after the first chapter, but I've liked the other Turtledove books I've read so I kept going thinking it would get better. A mistake -- it didn't. The premise of a world that hadn't had an American Revolution is interesting. But they didn't develop that premise. They describe a world that has a different state of technology than ours, and it would have been interesting to learn why the technology is different. But they don't discuss it. They describe a world that has different social structures and mores than ours, but don't discuss why. In fact they basically ignore the premise of the book and just pursue a simple who-dunnit. But, there could be another book starting with the same premise that actually explores how and why things would be different if there hasn't been an American Revolution.
Rating:
Summary: Well-done mystery; alright as alternate history
Review: This is a worlds till stuck in colonial; as though without the influence of the United States, none of the other colonies would have bothered making trouble either. Once that somewhat unlikely premise is accepted, it's a lot more subtle a world than it seems. The main character starts out believing that all is okay, but through the influence of his partner, the woman he falls in love with, and a few encounters woth various people of the "lower classes" he comes to realize that the world might not be quite the paradise he thought it was. That point is definitely there, but it's a bit too subtle, suborned as it is to the mystery/thriller aspects of the story, which are well-done, if, as with most of Turtledove's works, a bit on the slow side. (But the ride there is so entertaining!) I definitely recommend this book.
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Summary: I Hope This was Richard Dreyfuss' Fault
Review: I've liked many of Turtledove's previous works, so I'm trying very hard to believe that this tenth rate alternate history is largely his celebrity co-writer's fault. To sum it up in a few words, _The Two Georges_ is an indifferently written, badly extrapolated piece of Anglophiliac tripe. If there were a Margaret Thatcher Science Fiction Award, I'm sure this one would be a winner. The message appears to be that if we had all just agreed to play nice and stay with the Empire, North America would be a happy country with little crime, next to no discrimination against blacks and Native Americans, and an enlightened government led by Sir Martin Luther King. The only problem would be those pesky Sons of Liberty (obviously intended to be seen as a particularly thuggish cross between the IRA and the militia movement), backed by the two Evil Empires, the Russian and the Franco-Spanish. The fact that this happy society is built upon the economic, cultural, and linguistic enslavement of the Irish nation, whose people seem to make up the majority of the working classes, is almost completely ignored. To make matters worse, when this issue is raised (once in the entire book), it is by an unsympathetic character, the crudely lecherous publisher John F. Kennedy, Jr. Combined with Turtledove's typically leaden and linguistically inaccurate attempts to write Hiberno-English (these have marred several recent books), the effect is positively insulting. To make matters worse, the extrapolation from the historical point of departure is poorly done. A North America where soccer and rugby football are the national sports and everyone drinks real ale is believable, but a North America, settled at much the same rate as our version (the historical details in the book make it plain this was the case), which would accept UK-style gun control is patently absurd. This aspect of the novel appears particularly inept when one takes into consideration the fact that the UK did not have its current system of gun control until well into this century, and that the overall tone of this alternate history is Victorian-Edwardian. About the only good things I can think of to say about this was that it did contain an amusing alternate career for Richard Nixon and some moderately good descriptions of food.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting premise but very ponderous
Review: The beginning of this book was quite well done. I found the idea that without the revolution the US would be a little less advanced than we are now an interesting idea. The problem with this book is that we are taken on a trip to parts of the country that is not interesting or relevant to the story just to meet people. I don't understand why we had to meet JFK except just to meet him. Ultimately he didn't contribute to the story line. The ending was disappointing also. A lot of it was taken on faith and the need to wrap the book up. I would be interested in seeing which author contributed what portions of the book.
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