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39 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good First Novel, Uniquie Alternate History, January 25, 2001
This review is from: 1901: A Novel (Hardcover)
"1901", Robert Conroy's first (and, so far, only) novel, is a suprisingly well written, well thought-out work. It isn't a masterpiece by any means, but it is a very good and entertaining alternate history that deals with a very original divergence point. In 1901 Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, desiring a colonial empire to rival England and France, and angered by the USA's refusal to sell their newly acquired colonies from Spain, launches an invasion at New York. As the United States has almost little or no standing army in the country, and Germany has the largest and best army in the world, it becomes clear that the United States may very well lose this war. Conroy does pretty well with his divergence. It's plausible, which is the golden rule of alternate history. Conroy makes the reader believe that there could have been German troops wandering around Brooklyn and Manhattan, and portrays convincingly a U.S. government, led by Theodore Roosevelt, desperately trying to fight off these very aggressive, very professional invaders. Conroy is also particularly effective in evoking images underlining the brutallity of war. Men are mowed down, heads explode, bodies break, soldiers scream, and cities burn. Essentially, Conroy creates a microcosm of the First World War on American soil. Conroy also gives a pretty wide set of view-points. He criss-crosses from New York, to Washington D.C., to Berlin, and back again. His protagonist, Patrick Mahan, is thrust into an overwhelming situation, leading a rag-tag brigade of German- and African-American troops, while finding true love. Ludwig Weber wonders why he has come from Germany to this strange country in the service of a ruler he believes insane. TR gnashes his teeth, trots around enthusastically, while managing to hold the country together. Kasier Wilhelm gnashes teeth, asserts his greatness, and constantly demands reassurances from his council, none of whom really are loyal to their ruler. Conroy is also suprisingly good at maintaining suspense. We care about the characters by and large, and the fact that they could die keeps the reader on his/her toes. More importantly, Conroy builds his suspense by rewriting history. Initially when I began reading, I was convinced the U.S. would win. But as the book progressed, I wasn't so sure, particularly given the one-sided quality of the events. And regardless of who won, the ultimate consequences on the world would be amazing. Conroy does have some clunky passages, and some of his plot lines are cliched. Not all of his characters are a well defined as they could be. The kaiser in particular seems a little cartoony (in all fairness to Conroy, every biographical essay, text, etc. suggests that Willy had no depth). However it is a first novel, and these problems are easily overlooked. Conroy's novel is simply entertaining and enjoyable. It's a shame it is out of print five years after publication, as it would be an obvious book for DelRey or some other such publisher of alternate history to snap up. I also hope Conroy continues writing books, as he does have a great deal of skill and craft that just needs to be refined. The overall quality of "1901" is proof of that.
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33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
1901, almost, June 9, 2003
This review is from: 1901: A Novel (Hardcover)
This is an "Alternate History" story based on factual plans of the German Army to invade the US that were never used. Believablity is added to the story by the fact that the US Atlantic Squadron conducted manuvers in the Caribbean and South Atlantic each summer while the rest of the navy showed the flag around the world. The story is told through several characters including Teddy Roosevelt. I found some of the characters to be lacking but others were well done, I especially like the German soldiers and the German politican Holstein. However, Conroy overuses the ploy of putting old conferate generals back into uniform to "whip them damn-yankee Germans". There is a great deal of military information but unfortunetly much of it is wrong. The Germans are in Feldgrau when in fact it was not adopted by the German army until 1910. The US soldiers are in blue despite the US Army having issued khaki field uniforms since 1898. Conroy also has the US soldiers armed with single shot "Trapdoor" rifles despite the magazine-fed Krag Rifle having been first issued in 1895. By 1901 the Krag equiped the US Regular Army and many National Guard regiments. Conroy's information on the US Navy is very good but he has the German navy about twice it actual size for 1901. In the book it is claimed to be second only to the British when it was smaller than the French and Russian fleets and equal to the US Navy. Per the 1905 Jane's Fighting Ships in mid-1901 the US Navy had 9 battleships, 2 armored crusiers, 6 large monitors, 6 protected crusiers (armored decks but no side armor) and a number of light crusiers and gunboats. The German's had 9 battleships, one armored crusier. 8 coast defence ships and 6 protected crusiers with many smaller ships. The four battleships of the Brandenberg class were slow, shortranged and with an inadequate secondary battery. The five Kaiser class battleships had a good secondary battery but only four 9.4 main guns (second rate size)The coast defence ships were very slow, shortranged, unstable and with a useless secondary battery of only six 3.5" guns. Going against the US Navy would have been risky business. The story lacks an dramatic incident to trigger the crisis, relying instead on the convoluted "logic" of the Kaiser to start the war. It is also difficult to believe that the Germans could assemble a large invasion fleet then sail through the North Sea and across the Atlantic in total secrecy. This is made less believeable when in the story the scope of British intelligence is more fully revealed. Nevertheless, it was a good read and did succeed in capturing some flavor of the period. I especially enjoyed the description of "Fightin" Bob Evans taking on a German crusier squadron with a lone US battleship. The ambush of a German battalion by Gen. Fred Funston was also very well done. It is not in the class of Morris's "Theodore Rex" or Massey's "Dreadnaught" but it is a worthwhile addition to the period.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Same outline as 1862, with similar writing problems, July 4, 2006
I bought 1862 after reading a great newspaper review of it. When I went to post my own review at Amazon.com, I noted how many other reviewers had written "not as good as his other book, 1901". So, I figured I would see if 1901 was actually better. The good news is that 1901 is actually better than 1862 [I gave that two stars also]. Unfortunately, it's not all that much better (not enough to raise this to three stars), and has the same problems as 1862. Of course, since 1901 was written first, I guess one might expect this. I won't go into plot details too much, as many other reviews here cover those things. Quick synopsis: Just as in 1862, there is a historical twist. In this case, Prussian-dominated Germany invades the USA in 1901. Just as in 1862, we see most of the action through the eyes of a young military-trained man, who gets involved with a young woman. Just as in 1862 the US is led by an old General who everyone thought was over the hill; just as in 1862, the enemy is over-confident and makes stupid mistakes. Along the way the the author gets to show how he thinks the US would prevail against overwhelming odds, the author attempts some very clumsy love scenes, you meet the one good enemy combatant (so you know all Germans aren't bastards, just most of them), and the reader must endure writing far below the standards of Stephen King's or Alistair MacLean's worst. Ands that last point is the biggest problem: Conroy is simply not a good writer. His writing style and character development are more worthy of an internet site or day-time television soap opera than a good book. His books start with a good solid premise, but the characters are cliches. His descriptions of them are insulting stereotypes: Apaches who hate white men and kill like invisible stalkers; blacks who move like panthers in the night; Germans who butcher with bayonets. I could cite many more examples. At times when reading the book, I would break out laughing, and my wife would ask what was so funny. I would then read the awful passage aloud. She would cringe and say "Oh, that's awful". By the way, that is a technique my college writing & composition professors taught me: If you want to know how something reads, read it aloud. If it sounds awful, it reads awful. Having read two of Conroy's books, I now think of the old saying "Fool me once shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." I don't plan to buy a third Conroy book. If the historical twist really interests you and thus you really want to buy this book for a quick summer read, be sure to buy a used copy.
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