Rating: 
Summary: Good book, but not "a classic"
Review: The final few pages are the best. They show the horror of a man who is, shall we say, "stuck" where he does not belong, and cannot ever get back to where it should be. The first 200 pages are pretty good, if uneven. At first I didn't like the book, but grew progressively more interested. Some things were annoying throughout the novel, such as the lack of apostrophes ("dint") or using "alternative history" terms like "Southron" instead of "Southern." Ward plays with a bit of philosophy and religion, not always successfully. The bookstore owner who is a complete
fatalist requires a suspension of disbelief that I didn't find
possible. The action, however, was more interesting than the intellectual pretensions. The silent fight between the Confederates and the members of the Grand Army, the bandits' attack on the "stagecoach," these scenes worked out very well. The book is worth reading, but I didn't find it a "classic" science-fiction novel in the same league as, say, Alfred Bester's "The Stars My Destination." It's a good alternate-history time-travel story, but not a great one,
Rating: 
Summary: Starts off slow and depressing - ends well
Review: The summary says it all. The first 2/3 of the book are terribly depressing and relatively lacking in action. The last third is pretty good, though not good enough for me to keep the book - I got rid of it because I know I'll never force myself to read THAT again. The author simply spends too much time setting the background. He could easily have pared it down to short story or novella length and had it appear in a collection of alternate history stories
Rating: 
Summary: A great book
Review: This book wasn't at all what I expected. I knew it was alternate history, but the world was so changed as to be almost unrecognizable. This novel is so original that it's difficult to make comparisons to anything else. Then comes the ending....SUPERB!
Rating:
Summary: Wow! One of the greatest final pages in all of literature.
Review: This book wasn't at all what I expected. I knew it was alternate history, but the world was so changed as to be almost unrecognizable. This novel is so original that it's difficult to make comparisons to anything else. Then comes the ending....SUPERB!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting? Yes. Masterpiece? No.
Review: This is an alternate history of a U.S. where the South won the Civil War and the North is its vassal/client-state--which results in the industrial revolution never occurring. Set in the 1930s-50s, the story follows a young boy growing up in rural Pennsylvania who moves to New York (which is still "the big city") where he does a little growing up. Unfortunately, too much time is spent in his head, and not enough detailing the alternate world around him. He becomes a autodidact Civil War scholar and eventually is accepted in a sort of academic commune. Moore concentrates a bit too much on showing how things might have been, and pounding the fickleness of history into the reader's head, at the expense of a decent story. It's somewhat interesting to see how the hero develops, but he's kind of frustrating character, and in the end you know what he's going to do. The book is OK, but not as special as it's made out to be.
Rating:
Summary: An all-time classic
Review: Ward Moore's "Bring the Jubilee" has become a time-honored classic. Like Arthur Miller's "A Canticle for Leibowitz," it is one of the "great books" not only of science fiction but of historical fiction in general. Both novels, I imagine, have become required reading for students of history. The premise of "Bring the Jubilee" seems absurd: in the 1920's of an alternate universe, the U.S. is a backwater dominated by the Confederate States, which have become a superpower. But the premise is entirely logical when seen as metaphor: the Confederacy's victory in the "War of Southron Independence" has blighted world history and trapped the characters of the novel in a world gone wrong. Ward Moore compellingly creates that most difficult of characters, the "passive hero." Hodgins Backmaker, born on a poor farm in downstate New York, is a lovable, dreamy bumpkin whose every effort is ineffectual, every wish and dream frustrated by events or by his own bumbling. Resolving philosophically that inaction is the best policy, he becomes a scholar of American history. A fierce femme fatale, genius of the time machine, sends Hodgins back to witness in person the battle of Gettysburg. Faced with decision at a crucial moment, Hodgins discovers, too late, that even inaction is action. By his sheer presence he changes the course of events and is stranded in our timeline. Ward Moore thus works a supremely ironic twist on the "great man" theory of history: an ordinary, even a mediocre person can affect history simply by being in the right place at the wrong time. "Bring the Jubilee" would have been merely a curiosity were it not for Ward Moore's talent in bringing his characters to life. Not only does he paint in many adroit, small strokes the curious culture of this alternate universe, he also communicates his characters' emotions with delicate craftmanship. Hodgins Backmaker is conceivably among the few characters in literature that can be considered a "real" person. Canadians might take a lesson from "Bring the Jubilee," not only Quebec sovreigntists but their opponents, as well as anti-federalist English in all provinces.
Rating:
Summary: An all-time classic
Review: Ward Moore's "Bring the Jubilee" has become a time-honored classic. Like Arthur Miller's "A Canticle for Leibowitz," it is one of the "great books" not only of science fiction but of historical fiction in general. Both novels, I imagine, have become required reading for students of history.
The premise of "Bring the Jubilee" seems absurd: in the 1920's of an alternate universe, the U.S. is a backwater dominated by the Confederate States, which have become a superpower. But the premise is entirely logical when seen as metaphor: the Confederacy's victory in the "War of Southron Independence" has blighted world history and trapped the characters of the novel in a world gone wrong.
Ward Moore compellingly creates that most difficult of characters, the "passive hero." Hodgins Backmaker, born on a poor farm in downstate New York, is a lovable, dreamy bumpkin whose every effort is ineffectual, every wish and dream frustrated by events or by his own bumbling. Resolving philosophically that inaction is the best policy, he becomes a scholar of American history.
A fierce femme fatale, genius of the time machine, sends Hodgins back to witness in person the battle of Gettysburg. Faced with decision at a crucial moment, Hodgins discovers, too late, that even inaction is action. By his sheer presence he changes the course of events and is stranded in our timeline.
Ward Moore thus works a supremely ironic twist on the "great man" theory of history: an ordinary, even a mediocre person can affect history simply by being in the right place at the wrong time.
"Bring the Jubilee" would have been merely a curiosity were it not for Ward Moore's talent in bringing his characters to life. Not only does he paint in many adroit, small strokes the curious culture of this alternate universe, he also communicates his characters' emotions with delicate craftmanship. Hodgins Backmaker is conceivably among the few characters in literature that can be considered a "real" person.
Canadians might take a lesson from "Bring the Jubilee," not only Quebec sovreigntists but their opponents, as well as anti-federalist English in all provinces.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic Tale of A Confederate Victory
Review: Written decades before Harry Turtledove's Civil War alternate history novels, Ward Moore's 'Bring the Jubilee' is the story of an America divided. In 1863, the Union loss at Gettysburg paved the way for southern independence and left the United States a backward, third world country. The novel's protaganist, Hodge, leaves his rural home for what he hopes will be a better life in New York City and eventually finds himself in a community of scholars where his final destiny awaits him. The characters, situations and philosiphies of 'Jubilee' remind the reader of another great Science Fiction author, Robert Heinlein. Moore has the same wonderful ability to convey the complex ideas of life and society that make Heinlein's novels so compelling. Also wonderful is Moore's explanations of temporal theory and his understanding and presentation of the Battle of Gettysburg. If you enjoy alternate history then 'Bring the Jubilee' will not disappoint.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic Tale of A Confederate Victory
Review: Written decades before Harry Turtledove's Civil War alternate history novels, Ward Moore's 'Bring the Jubilee' is the story of an America divided. In 1863, the Union loss at Gettysburg paved the way for southern independence and left the United States a backward, third world country. The novel's protaganist, Hodge, leaves his rural home for what he hopes will be a better life in New York City and eventually finds himself in a community of scholars where his final destiny awaits him. The characters, situations and philosiphies of 'Jubilee' remind the reader of another great Science Fiction author, Robert Heinlein. Moore has the same wonderful ability to convey the complex ideas of life and society that make Heinlein's novels so compelling. Also wonderful is Moore's explanations of temporal theory and his understanding and presentation of the Battle of Gettysburg. If you enjoy alternate history then 'Bring the Jubilee' will not disappoint.
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