Rating: 
Summary: Not Turtledove's Best Effort
Review: Normally I anxiously await my new Turtledove book, especially anything to do with WW2 or Byzantium. This story however was not worth the wait. It feels like a too-long short story, with the revealing scene at dinner jogging my memory of a paperback collection I have. Reading this book gave me a strong sense of deja vu, and I believe that is the real problem I have with it. At its best, alternate history should move us away from our "normal" timeline, leading the reader to believe that common history can produce extraordinarily different outcomes. "In the Presence of Mine Enemies" does not achieve this goal. There is little more than a scene change from pre-Communist coup Moscow to Deutschland uber alles Berlin after a Nazi victory. I was disappointed by the same type of characters that seem to be a recurring theme, the earnest worker bee and his devoted wife/girlfriend, the jealous/nosy neighbor, and the guy who follows the party line whatever it may be. The bureaucratic excess of a National Socialist state ring the truest for me. Racial purity forms and doctors who will report any taint of "untermensch" blood gave me the feeling of all service to the Reich that a Nazi state engenders in its populace. The framework of the story has merit but the familiar characters need redrawing. I hoped for a crisp, exciting read but was disappointed in the execution.
Rating: 
Summary: sweeping saga of a world where the Fascists won
Review: The Germans won World War III using nuclear bombs to wipe out a third of the population of the United States. The borders of the Germanic Empire include England, Russia all the way to the Urals and India. The armies of the victorious German Empire occupy the U.S., France and Canada. Most Jews and Blacks have been put to death, making the empire and the countries it occupies racially pure. The Germans believe that all the Jews and Gypsies were destroyed in the camps but in the heart of the capital, a small cell of Jews hides their religion from the public at large.The Nazi Party led by the SS stormtroopers has kept the country in a grip of repression for over two decades. The newly appointed Fuhrer Heinz Buckhagen calls for radical reforms. He wants free elections in the conquered and occupied countries as well as Germany. He strongly feels that Germany must become self-supporting instead of looting the treasures of the losers to keep the country in the black. The people, particularly the Jews, wait with baited breath to see how far he will take his reforms and if his enemies will stop him. The question of what would happen if Germany won W.W.II is answered very satisfactorily IN THE PRESENCE OF MINE ENEMIES. Hearts will go out to the German Jews who live their lives in fear of being discovered and put to death by the SS. HARRY TURTLEDOVE, the master of alternate history, has written a sweeping saga of a world where the Fascists won and to the victors go the spoils. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Too long, too negative and too boring
Review: This book would have been better if it was (1) half as long; (2) a bit more positive; and (3) a little less verbose. The premise of the book is eye catching: how would "secret" Jews survive in a world ruled by the Nazis. The book, however, spends far too much time and far too many pages endlessly discussing such "fascinating" things as the bridge playing social activities of some of the characters. It would have been a much better book if, instead, it offered more insight in how this horrid alternative reality could be changed. Moreover, the ending, while seemingly positive, really isn't. All in all, a disappointing effort for an otherwise excellent author.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book
Review: This is a great book about a future that fortunately did not happen. It is also, in many ways about pasts that did happen in several places and throughout history. I know the "if the Nazis had won the second world war" theme has been beaten to death. I would however like to point out that this is NOT the theme of this book -- the theme of this book is hidden identity, public identity and the scary point at which the two merge. (It is also an interesting study in how dictatorships exploit what ANYONE has to hide. Any careful reader will notice that even the non-Jewish characters are afraid and have things they would like to hide.) As such, the fact that the fall of the Reich is much like the fall of the USSR (and really, we don't have any other models for the fall of a dictatorship in the modern age) didn't disturb me. The second half of the book is a tale of how the characters bring both their public and their secret identities into actualization and achieve some sort of coherent whole. It is a story of the characters -- Jewish and not -- finding their humanity with their freedom. As such, I don't know a more relevant story for our time. A book worth buying, reading, re-reading and reading to your children.
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: This is a great book about a future that fortunately did not happen. It is also, in many ways about pasts that did happen in several places and throughout history. I know the "if the Nazis had won the second world war" theme has been beaten to death. I would however like to point out that this is NOT the theme of this book -- the theme of this book is hidden identity, public identity and the scary point at which the two merge. (It is also an interesting study in how dictatorships exploit what ANYONE has to hide. Any careful reader will notice that even the non-Jewish characters are afraid and have things they would like to hide.) As such, the fact that the fall of the Reich is much like the fall of the USSR (and really, we don't have any other models for the fall of a dictatorship in the modern age) didn't disturb me. The second half of the book is a tale of how the characters bring both their public and their secret identities into actualization and achieve some sort of coherent whole. It is a story of the characters -- Jewish and not -- finding their humanity with their freedom. As such, I don't know a more relevant story for our time. A book worth buying, reading, re-reading and reading to your children.
Rating:
Summary: Increadable
Review: This was a great book. I was very impressed, but unfortunately it was extremely predictable. It almost perfectly followed the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989. Stolle was obviously supposed to be Boris Yeltsin, while Buckligger was obviously supposed to be Gorbechev. Other than that I was increadably impressed. I would be very interested in a second book.
Rating: 
Summary: More Of Same
Review: Turtledove is back with another foray into alternate history. In this case, he has a group of Maranos living in the 21st century Third Reich. This was originally a short story, and worked better and more poignantly in that form. The expanded version is only mildly interesting, with way too much focus on one character's dysfunctional marriage.
There are also some cutesy corrolaries with current history. The story starts with a Fuhrer is named Kurt Haldweim (Kurt Waldheim). There is a coup attempt while the new Fuhrer is on vacation in the Crimea (Gorbachev). The leader of Czechoslovakia is a former playwright (Vaclav Havel). One of the satellite countries' new political party is called Unity (Solidarity). And so on. Probably some more that I missed.
While this is not a bad book, it doesn't compare well to "A Different Flesh" let alone to "Guns of The South". There is no new ground here. At least he keeps the shifting viewpoints down to just a few characters this time.
If you are looking for something unchallenging to pass the time, its OK. If you have something better to read, give this a pass.
Rating:
Summary: Fall of the USSR as the Greater German Reich
Review: Turtledove likes to follow real history in his books, with an added twist. Here, he expands on one of his short stories of Germans winning both World War 2 and 3. Following a family of hidden Jews at the heart of an eighty year Reich, Turtledove uses the real history of the fall of the USSR to map out the transformation of the Reich into a more modern liberal state. It was an interesting read, took me about a day. Turtledove does go into a bit too much detail with the card games and I thought the school system mentioned throughout was a little more old German-American and a lot less of the actual German system. I am not certain if that was to make the schools more understandable to Americans or what. Interesting and made me think.
Rating:
Summary: Fall of the USSR as the Greater German Reich
Review: Turtledove likes to follow real history in his books, with an added twist. Here, he expands on one of his short stories of Germans winning both World War 2 and 3. Following a family of hidden Jews at the heart of an eighty year Reich, Turtledove uses the real history of the fall of the USSR to map out the transformation of the Reich into a more modern liberal state. It was an interesting read, took me about a day. Turtledove does go into a bit too much detail with the card games and I thought the school system mentioned throughout was a little more old German-American and a lot less of the actual German system. I am not certain if that was to make the schools more understandable to Americans or what. Interesting and made me think.
Rating:
Summary: Clever story; characters could use some work
Review: Turtledove's nightmarish world dominated by a decaying Third Reich is clearly designed to parallel the demise of the Soviet bloc, and he does an excellent job in cleverly drawing together many elements to complete this picture.
However, his characters are uncompelling, the dialogue is poorly written and Turtledove exhibits a shocking laziness when it comes to names- he names one Nazi potentate "Kurt Haldweim" (I don't know if he thought this was clever, but he should have either have come out and said that the Fuhrer was former UN Sec-Gen, Austrian president and Nazi war criminal [in our timeline] Kurt Waldheim, or picked a totally different name. Ditto goes for his character "Globocnik", whose name is stolen from the infamous Odilo Globocnik without explanation of the relationship between them.
The book slows down to a crawl towards the middle and then rushes to an excellent conclusion that leaves room for a sequel. I would definitely recommend this book for the plot and its clever allusion to recent events in our timeline, but if you're looking for character development, interpersonal relationships and communication, better look elsewhere.
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