Customer Reviews

American Front [Audiobook] (CD)

5 star:		(41)
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1 star:		(5)

 

 

Harry Turtledove is probably the acknowledged master of alternate history fiction today. His "Guns of the South" is a classic of the genre and more recently he has turned his attention towards an interesting alternate time-line: what would the First World War have been like if the South had won the Civil War? The answer is "The Great War: American Front", as exciting and interesting a book as I have ever read.

In Turtledove's scenario, the South won the Civil War, then emerged victorious in the Second Mexican War, which saw a humbled US lose to the combined power of the CS and England. As the Great War begins, the United States is allied with Germany (and presumably Austria-Hungary, though this is not mentioned) while the Confederate States are allied with the triple powers- England, France and Russia (with Japan thrown in for good measure).

Historically, the addition of the US to the German/Austrian side would have dramatically tilted the balance of power against the triple powers. Not only would they have been deprived of American armies which contributed to the winning of the war against Germany, but England must now also contend with the American invasion of Canada and the presence of the American navy on the high seas. Indeed, it was American soldiers who helped to save the beleaguered armies of England and France in the pivotal days of 1918, when the German army came perilously close to capturing Paris and perhaps winning the war.

The events of "The Great War: American Front" are quite plausible as well. Slaves in the CS, whose position is quite like that of the serfs of Russia in 1914, take to reading Marx. The US must quell a Mormon uprising in Utah. Poison gas is used to break the stalemate in Kentucky . . . all events that are quite plausible and dramatically told in Turtledove's excellent prose. The First World War was the great upheavel of Europe's old political and social order. The effect in America might have been similar. The reader must give Turtledove kudos for taking the might-have-beens of the story and making them feel like they did actually happen.

As good as Turtledove's work is, "The Great War: American Front" has some weaknesses. For one, there are far too many characters. Do we really need two different perspectives on the U.S. occupation of Canada? Do we really need so many looks at the war in the trenches? Sometimes characters tend to blend together, or they take time away from another whose story you may want to follow more closely. Also, this reader would have enjoyed longer looks at the naval aspects of this war. Historically, Theodore Roosevelt's interest in naval affairs was such to suggest that the U.S. Navy in 1914 would have been a formidable fighting force, quite the equal of the Royal Navy. The peeks at the naval dimensions of the war Turtledove grants his readers are too slight for my taste.

This reader would also enjoy a longer look at the political implications of the war. The US has a two-party system divided between the Democrats and Socialists. I would love to see how Turtledove might portray this at work. CSA President Woodrow Wilson and USA President Theodore Roosevelt make little more than cameo appearances, leaving the reader to wonder what the decision-making process of the two respective governments is actually like.

On the balance: a magnificent book. I can hardly wait to find out what happens next.

This is the kind of alternate history (or (science) fiction in general) I really like. Sense of wonder: what would have happened if the South had won the American Civil War? And: would they have been allies or even neutral during WW1 - or each others enemies? Suspension of disbelief: given that, and the fact that WW1 really took place, I had no trouble 'believing' the events that took place in American Front.

The story: 32 years after the USA lost (and the CSA won) the second war between the states, World War 1 starts in Europe, just like it did in reality. But since the Confederacy has been allies with Britain and France now for more than half a century, and the Union does have sort of een ally in Imperial Germany, they both plunge into the conflict and start fighting each other for the third time - a 'classic' WW1 fight.

Unfortunately, I read this book before I read Harry Turtledove's How Few Remain, a sort of sequel to the series. A couple of things in American Front then became more clear to me.

Like in How Few Remain, there is not really a side I am more inclined to feel sympathy for. Both the USA as the CSA treat negroes with contempt. This is not very unlikely, since in our own 1960s, there was still a sort of an 'apartheid' in America! Of course I feel more sympathy for the USA, since they did not have slavery (nor did the CSA after 1882); but the trouble in my eyes is, is that the USA just should have let the new CSA go after 1862 - slavery probably would have ended no later than 1900 or so. There would have been no feelings of hatred or wounded pride. And: the USA should have swallowed their pride in 1881 - just let the CSA have those two Mexican provinces. And when WW1 starts, the USA can remain neutral, the CSA can join the Allies, and WW1 can end much sooner.

But in this universe, the North/USA have gone to war with the South/CSA several times and they lost every time. They can do nothing else but to fight them a third time.

I'm almost afraid which side will win - because if the Allies lose, Canada will 'only' lose some territory, hopefully not too much; but the CSA will most likely simply cease to exist, and the US occupation will be much more grim than a post-1865-style occupation. And think of the disastrous things that will happen in Europe, if Germany wins there. If on the other hand the USA loses, it will (again) lose 'only' some territory, but it will be even more inclined to have feelings of revenge and retaliation. You have to remember: by 1914, the hearts and the feelings of both the USA and the CSA are now those of two separate countries. Maybe the best solution is: the Germans lose in Europe, the USA wins in America???

I want to know how this dreadful war ends and I'm going to read the entire series. It is a magnificent book. There are some flaws, like (in my eyes) not enough maps of the different fronts and events, but on the whole I would recommend The Great War: American Front to everybody who likes to read alternate history.

It's most unquiet on the Western Front... The Great War fought on American soil. Harry Turtledove has written a spectacular work of alternate history.

Great War: American Front is the first of three books in a trilogy, but you really must read How Few Remain beforehand. Go ahead, I'll wait. How Few Remain (HFR) gives the backstory: Confederate States defeat the USA in 1862 by not losing critical battle plans, and in 1881 the USA itches for a rematch, only to lose again. By 1911 the USA and CSA have been seperate countries for 50 years, with plenty of resentment. The USA, having been defeated twice, is not the economic powerhouse it became in our timeline.

Tensions mount between the two countries and their allies. CSA is allied with England and France, USA with Germany. The European struggle is offstage, as American Front covers the war from multiple viewpoints in North America. British Canada is invaded by the USA and becomes Occupied territory; one family secretly resists, another slowly accepts their new overlords. Utah, still a US territory because the government is still fighting the Mormons, who are being supplied with weapons from the CSA. And in the CSA, Marxism is being taught... among the ex-slaves, and the USA is running weapons to them! General Custer is observed through the eyes of his long-suffering aide, take a ride on a CSA submarine, observe enemy intelligence in a Washington DC coffeehouse.

Multiple viewpoints, numerous agendas, plenty of intrigue, and laughably bad sex scenes! What more could anyone want? And if you enjoy this book, there are two more in the Great War series, followed by three more in the American Empire series, leading up to the forthcoming American World War II!

this was a great story, after having read How Few Remain, its nice to see the US not getting completely destroyed. as for their being too many characters, well, i think there are too many civilian characters. there are way to many civilians involved in this, esspecially the two occupied canadians, and the multiple black revolutionaries. the one thing that is needed is more information on whats going on elsewhere in the world/war. i think that the US officer in the War dept. is going to start providing that in book two. all in all, it is a great book, with a better amount of military characters, and US characters then How Few Remain. and the addition of navy characters is great.

Harry Turtledove is a talented writer. His characterizations are often excellent and his battle scenes gripping. GUNS OF THE SOUTH showed those strengths to great affect. However, like in his World War Series, he does not understand that there is more to modern war than good characters and fighting. A problem he shares with a number of other science fiction alternate history writers.

The foundation of modern war is a nation's economy. Few people really understand how big the American economy was, in relation to the WW1 European Powers, either then or now. Assuming a per capita wealth only 3/4 the size it was in those states historically. The Rump USA could have afforded a standing army the size of a mobilized Germany and a standing navy the size of Great Britian's for _two percent_ of gross domestic product.

The CSA was less than 1/3 the Rump USA's demographic and economic size (remember all those repressed black citizens?), with a huge land frontier to defend. It could not have afforded an adequate army, an adequate system of river and coastal defense fortifications plus a large blue water navy, simultaniously.

The military implications of that are chillingly clear. Canada outside of perminent fortifications would have fallen in 10 weeks. England, caught between the millstones of the US Atlantic and German High Seas fleets, would have been starved to surrender in six months.

Unfortunately, that is not the story Harry wanted to write and it shows.

We are instead treated to an American Socialist Party founded by a martyred Lincoln, Mormon uprisings, Black uprisings, Indian Wars, Hawaiian naval expeditions and throw away lines about Atlantic convoy fighting.

If you like Harry Turtledove's World War series and do not care a fig about economics, military strategy or logistics, this book is for you.

As for me, I will stick with Harry's Videssoss books -- and one off efforts like THE CASE OF THE TOXIC SPELL DUMP -- in paperback.

The Great War: American Front was definitely not Turtledove's best. The book and its characters were believable and the story followed How Few Remain well, but The Great War moved a little too slowly and there are too many characters to keep track of. Some of the characters, notably Cincinnatus, Arthur MacGregor, and Flora Hamburger were superfluous and added nothing to the story. Also, Turtledove went back to his old pattern of writing about the war and not having a perspective from all of the sides. There were too many USA and CSA perspectives and none from Germany, Britain, France or any other nations who were part of the war.

Since the book jumps around to different characters so much, something that would assist Turtledove in conveying his message would be situation maps that would appear periodically throughout the book and show where in the world the character in question is. Multi-perspective books such as The Great War that do not use this technique ! are confusing.

Another criticism is that the only historical figure that plays a big part in the book is Custer. Most of the characters are completely made up, and those characters are often hard to relate to.

Finally, this is not major but how could Turtledove be so sure that World War One would still have occurred in 1914? It seems like in this alternate world everything would move faster because of the bigger alliance system and desire of the USA to avenge their two defeats at the hands of the Confederates. It seems to me that Turtledove, in a hurry to write a How Few Remain sequel, rushed the book through the development process, and as a result the book is subpar. I am extremely disappointed.

OK, this isn't a review so much as a warning, and it'll probably get lost among 100+ reviews, but just be aware what you're getting yourself into. This was originally going to be a four-book series but now it's SIX (two trilogies, not counting the somewhat interrelated HOW FEW REMAIN prequel).

Browse the reviews for the third and fourth (when it's out) books in the series and see if you still think it's worth your time. Like many HT series, THE GREAT WAR gets off to a great start and then quickly turns tedious and repetitive. I gave up after three books; I have better things to do with my life than slog through this stuff.

Harry Turtledove's "Great War" series of books start on the premise that the Rebels got lucky early in the Civil War and got Britain and France to pressure Lincoln into ending the war. As the years passed, both the U. S. and C.S.A. have expanded to the Pacific and the Union, seeking allies against the Anglo-French-Confed alliance, has befriended the German Empire. Now, in 1914, there's trenches in Tennessee.

In this "alternate history," while Theodore Roosevelt is President of the U.S., Woodrow Wilson has become President of the Confederacy. There are references made to other wars between and involving the states. Lincoln was defeated in his re-election bid and became a socialist writer. The slaves in the south were eventually freed, but are still treated as second-class citizens. other than that, there is not much difference between this world and ours. One might think that if something as major as the American Civil War turned out differently, There might be such far-reaching ramifications that history would be totally different. Many people we know of today might never have been born.

The point of this book, however, seems to be taking familiar people and historical situations and seeing what might happen if they were slightly different, perhaps to examine the core substance of a person or motivation behind an event. In this, I think the author does well. He has a steelworker discover socialism, a southerner see the absurdity of racism, a black worker see the dilema of divided loyalties.

Part of the thrill of this book, also, is the placement of what has become traditional wartime stories into an American context. A soldier invents the modern infantry helmet. A Canadian farmer deals with an invading army's requisitioning. A coffee-shop owner in an occupied Wasington DC serves the enemy coffee and fears for her daughter's virtue while learning to be an information agent. Machine guns and artillery force the war into the trenches. Airplane pilots learn how to fight in the air. My personal favorite story is the football game in no-man's land during the "Christmas truce." There is some initial confusion over the rules; it seems the Northerners use the forward pass!

The story is told as a series of stories accross the war, both front lines (from Canada to Utah to the desert to the trenches to the sea) and at home. Several historical figures, including Custer and Pershing, make appearences, and many aspects of the war are considered. The author paints a very detailed picture of the lives of his many characters, giving an in-depth portrayal of life at that time. I have some knowlege of the period, but the characters cover such a wide spectrum of life, almost anyone would find something they are unfamiliar with. I was most intrigued by the lives of the fishing boat captain and the Greek Orthodox Union soldier.

Folks who enjoy what I've described will really like this book. It may not be a "Great Work of Western Literature," but it is well written and well researched. People may feel free to debate his assumptions about the outcomes of history, but at least the author made the effort of writing a massive epic series of novels about it.

Having read the World War series and How Few Remain, I would have to say this is the best book yet by Harry Turtledove. It combines an intresting what if scenario with a sound grounding in the facts as they prevailed at the time.

Many reveiwers have criticised it on the grounds that the USA would have completely dominated its opponents. I feel it is my duty to correct some of the misaprehensions of some of the reveiwers.

1.The US Navy of 1914 while being one of the worlds premier navies was none the less small in comparison to the Royal Navy, which at the outbreak of the war in 1914 was larger than the next two navies (Imperial German Navy 2nd and United States Navy 3rd) combined. This does not include the fact that Imperial Japanese Navy (4th), French Navy (5th) and Imperial Russian Navy (6th) were all on the Allied side, not to mention the Confederate Navy.

2.On the matter of manpower/economic advantages, the United States of Turtledove's book (34 states instead of 48 historicaly) were not that great. In 1914 the USA's GDP per capita was only 10% greater than that of Britain. Given that the population of the rump USA of the book was roughly 2/3rds that of reality would give it a population of around 65 million (similer to that of the German Empire)compared to the Allies (CSA around 30 million, Britain 40 million, France 38 million, Russia 120 million, Japan 55 million, Canada 8 million, Rest of British Empire 400 million). Not to mention numerous smaller allied nations. Thus while the USA outnumbers the CSA and Canada combined, the disparity is no greater than that France and Germany, and look what happened there historicaly. Thus unlike todays reality, a USA deprived of its southern territory in 1914 would have been just another Great Power.

3.The beleif that there would have been no trench warfare is also incorrect. The distances involved in the Eastern theater of war, to which most resources would have been devoted,would not have been much greater than those on the western front (Atlantic to the Mississippi around 1,000 miles compared to Western Front slightly under 700 miles), while west of the Mississippi both sides had to few troops to gain a desicive advantage.

4.The beleif that Canada would be quickly defeated is also incorrect. With thirty years of emnity with which to prepare, all the vital areas would have been heavily fortified. While it is true that it would have been impossible to defend every inch of the Canadian border, it would also have been impossible for the USA to attack all along the border (especialy while having to deal with CSA as well). Given that fortfied defenders tend to have a 3 to 1 advantage over attacker, the USA's manpower advantage would have been considerably diminished.

Thus when taking all these factors into account, niether side has a particular advantage, which was precisely what made WWI so bloody. While the fact that the author takes no sides in the book makes the outcome of the story of an alternate WWI all the more suspenseful.

I can't wait for the next books.

My habit of reading AH began way back when I picked HT's books the Guns of the South. Since then I have read almost all of his books enthusiatically. I found this book entertaining, though not as exciting as his worldwar sagas. Turtledove does tend to get long-winded at times. Throwing in too many latin and french phrases than is necessary. At times his many characters can get confusing to follow at times. What with each one playing a small part in the book. Often I wondered if Turtledove couldn't decide what would be the major focus of the book. The humans or the war. In the end you get a little of both, and wishing you had more. You never quite know where the war is at, and how it is proceeding. Which I believe doesn't allow your imagination to start flowing with juicy ideas. Which is vital to alternate history, letting you the reading picture in your mind the ebbs and flow of combat. Since their is so many characters in this book (Probably more than in any other of his books)we are not able to follow any character for long. Which sometimes works as a good cliffhanger, but all too often leaves us asking ourselve why I should know this character. The idea as a whole is intriguing, but I think is hard for me to imagine. I don't think anybody quite pictured this what-if before. Having said all this I will still buy the the next book.