Customer Reviews

Stars and Stripes in Peril (Stars & Stripes Trilogy)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Having read both "Stars and Stripes Forever" and "Stars and Stripes in Peril", I must say Harry Harrison's second volume in his alternate history trilogy is certainly better than the first book. Much of what was wrong with the first book is not present in the second text, and "Peril" definitely has more to offer in terms of entertainmen value. However, "Peril" also from many of the same flaws that plagued "Forever", and is still far from perfect.

The valid complaints of implausibility that were aimed at "Forever" probably won't be directed at "Peril". Harrison pretty well established his divergence in "Forever"(as clumsily as that was), and "Peril" simply picks up in the new history that Harrison has created. Harrison begins "Peril" with a brief recap of the events of "Forever" in the form of a "memoir" by General Sherman, introducing new readers as well as reminding old readers.

Harrison is also very effective at keeping the action in one self-contained book. Though it is the second book in a trilogy, there are really no dangling plotlines that a reader will be plagued by until the next book.

Further, Harrrison's plot is extremely entertaining overall. Britain, still steaming over her loss in the first novel, plans to attack the U.S. through Mexico. At the same time, the U.S. is still dealing with several unresolved issues of the brief War Between the States, as the South is forced to adjust to the emancipation of the slaves,a more low-key analog to Radical Reconstrucion in our time line. With British invasion seemingly unavoidable, America looks to take the war to England's backyard.

"Stars and Stripes in Peril", as stated, is an entertaining read overall, but it does suffer many of "Forever's" faults. Harrison uses a third-person omniscient narrator to tell his story, which I must admit is not my favorite means narration. What is worse, while Harrison uses this method to further his plot at a rapid pace, he does so at the expense of characterization and effective sub-plots. The reader is allowed briefly into the minds of nearly every character that appears int his novel. The end result, however, is that no single character develops any actual depth, and the reader does not care one way or another who lives or who dies.

Another problem is Harrison's clear optimism with regards to America's relationship with the world. In "Stars and Stripes Forever" America cheerfully lets Canada go on her merry way, with no expansionist intent whatsoever, flying in the face of history. In "Stars and Stripes in Peril" America comes into possession of what can only be called an overseas empire, and again, Harrison, despite history, has his Americans let it go. While certainly idealistic, it just doesn't hold water.

Finally, though another conflict with Britain made sense for this book, Harrison certainly leads the reader to believe that the final book will feature the ultimate conflict between America and Britain. I must say that this idea has lost a great deal of luster. I would rather see new challenges to America's rising power in the world, rather than see yet another volume of America trounce on Britain yet again.

Ultimately, Harrison tells and entertaining yarn, that, much like a summer blockbuster film, gets a great deal of mileage out of a cool, larger-than-life concept. Taken in this way, it works just fine. Taken any other way, and it begins to wither. Still, I will read the third book when it comes out, and I am vaguely curious to see how this history could play out over time. For all of its flaws, it is, as I said, a cool concept.

"Stars & Stripes in Peril" is Harry Harrison's novel of alternate history in which the British declare war on the United States over the Trent affair. Somehow the British not only end up attacking the Confederate port of Biloxi, they also rape and pillage the Southern town, which results in Union General Sherman deciding to join with Confederate General Beauregard in repelling the invaders. Of course, this fanciful excess is only an excuse to bring the North and South together so Harrison can lay out how "modern" weapons and the blitzkrieg tactics of Germany in 1936 could have been used in 1863 by the Americans to liberate Ireland. To appreciate this novel you must have above average knowledge of the Civil War. For example, you need to recognize the significance of Ralph Semmes serving as Captain of the U.S.S. Virginia, with its twin turrets designed by John Erickson, each housing two large Parrott breech-loading cannons. Harrison certainly does not have time to explain much beyond briefly identifying the various players as this book is more of an elaborate sketch than a full-fledged novel. Lincoln, Lee and the rest of the players are presented as caricatures. Because he is the Father of Modern Warfare, Sherman leads the American Armies, assisted by Lee and Jackson during the invasion of Ireland while Grant is laying siege to a key British port down in Mexico, but you do not get a sense for the true nature of any of these characters. In fact, both Jefferson Davis and Queen Victoria are presented in extremely unflattering fashions.

Ultimately these characters are but chess pieces, moved about by Harrison who is obviously more concerned with the invents in his giant game of "what if." In the end, "Stars & Stripes in Peril" reminds me more of MacKinlay Kantor's "If the South Had Won the Civil War," which was essentially a series of events briefly sketched out, than Harry Turtledoves "Guns of the South," with its detailed character study of Robert E. Lee and which remains the best alternative history of the Civil War I have read to date. There are certainly some provocative idea in this book, but Harrison could have advanced them just as easily with a short essay than with this novel.

Stars and Stripes in Peril is the sequel to the wonderful Stars and Stripes Forever. However, this novel doesn't quite live up the expectations I had for it based on the first novel. Despite that, it still has strengths among its weaknesses.

Like its predecessor, Stars and Stripes in Peril fulfils a fantasy of Civil War buffs and alternative history fans: it lets the oposing generals of the Civil War actually work together to defeat a common enemy. In this case, it would be the British, who in the previous novel, mistakenly attacked the South, and in doing so, united the Americas and prematurely ended the Civil War. General Lee and William Tecumsah Sherman pair off as the generals to lead the United States to victory.

Having been repelled in the previous novel, the British plan another invasion of the United States, this time through Mexico. By employing some misdirection, the British fleet manages to secure paths across Mexico whereby the British can attack the United States where Harrison has decided it was vulnerable - through the Gulf of Mexico.

After sending Grant to deal with this threat, Lee and Sherman come up with a plan to draw the British away, and that plan is to free Ireland. I found this an intriguing idea. The possibilities that an Ireland freed in the 1860's presents for future novels are quite fantastic. However, I found the delivery of the attack on Ireland a little too smooth and a little too easy.

Another problem that I had was that Harrison seemed to drop one of his sub plots rather abruptly. The plot I am referring to involves Jefferson Davis and the Ku Klux Klan. Some wonderful intrigue had been built into this sub plot, only for it to get ended abruptly, as if Harrison had lost interest in it. It was his attempt to develop the theme that although the United States were once again, not all was well at home.

At times, I found Harrison's characterizations to be a bit wooden. I realize that historical figures of both the American Revolution and the Civil War were a little more given to say something prophetic, but at times, their dialogue came off as a little too romantic. Its a minor complaint but it is there.

In the end, I'd have to say that this novel is enjoyable for fans of alternative history. This series is developing into a nice alternative to Harry Turtledove's alternate history of the Americas. My hope is that some of the ideas and plots introduced in this novel will be carried into another novel my Mr. Harrison.

This is more of a commentary on both books in the series to date, but I'll focus on Peril for the sake of relevance. Up until recently, most of my alternate history experience has been limited to Turtledove, who, although he overlooks many small points about causality, paints a picture of an interesting and fairly believable world.

Then, I began reading the S&S series, expecting an informative development to an interesting idea (Britain attacking the U.S. during the Civil War). It was a total letdown. I have never read any of Mr. Harrison's works previous to this, but I do not feel any particular desire to now.

He portrays every character in one-dimensional descriptions, based along the lines of U.S. = good, everyone else = bad. He doesn't even take the time to develop any of the non-U.S.-and-allied characters beyond their immediate motives relating to the war and their own pompous convictions, regardless of what kind of person they were in reality. Though I know little about the actual Queen Victoria, I am more than a little suspicious that she did slightly more than scream at bad news and throw incessant fits.

Likewise, the lack of real development of civil issues in the reunified U.S., primarily the treatment of freed slaves, was irritating. That most people would practically ignore the existance of a problem save for philosophical argument is almost mind-boggling, and the section dealing with a negro teacher in Mississippi is resolved with impossible simplicity. Why no social backlash? It wasn't even mentioned again, and given the magnitude of what happened it could easily have sparked major riots at the very least.

Finally, issues abroad. I find it more than a little unlikely that the British would make such a pointless effort at building a road across a several hundred mile section of mountain and jungle in a country the U.S. has major interest in. Wouldn't it make more sense to build a road across Panama, near to where the canal is? The distance is much shorter, the terrain more hospitable, and it's much more remote from the U.S., making attack harder and it's existance more difficult to be known about. In fact, why didn't the British just bring their Asian troops around the world the OTHER WAY? By going around Africa from Asia would take only a little longer than crossing the whole Pacific, landing hundreds of thousands of troops, crossing harsh country, then reloading the troops (on ships that would have had to be in the Atlantic ANYWAY). The author makes huge logical errors on the part of the British.

And the Irish invasion! Why would the British just give up on Ireland after one week, attempting just one troop landing? And that the resulting situation would be so stable even after the Americans had left, as in Canada in the last book (since when do ALL the British live in just three cities, then give up after each is attacked?).

I will read the last, although I can imagine how it will finish. Mr. Harrison may even throw in some suspense for once.

This sequel did not grab me as quickly as the first book. Things happen very, very fast which can leave you feeling like you are reading a series of blurbs rather than a novel. An example of this would be the invasion of Ireland. From conception to execution Harrison uses maybe 20 pages. There are paragraphs here and there about the amazing amount of logistics and planning that would have been required for this undertaking but one gets the impression it was not that hard to do. Besides the sinking of one U.S. iron clad things also go amazingly well for the U.S. forces. I'm sure the Brits will take issue with how they are written as well. At best the Brits are arrogant elitists in this book. While Harrison does present many historical facts to build his case against the English he is a little heavy handed with it. Nothing new there though, the Brits have been catching it left and right in movies and books over the last few years.
What this book does best is what I think most alternative history books do best. It gives the reader a chance to learn a lot of real history "spiced" up with some "what if" scenarios. It's tremendous fun to imagine what would happen if Civil War era troops and generals went up against Britain's best in Ireland of all places. I really think that the recent popular boom in alternative history writing will change the way history is taught in the future. Alternative history does not just ask people to memorize fact, it asks them to become critical thinkers. To know what would happen in a "what if" people must know what each player in the new scenario brings to the game, where their motivation lay, how their culture will influence reaction and so on and so on. Harrison makes a good go of this invloving the U.S., Mexico, England, France and Ireland. No easy feat and if not particularly detailed it is a fun read. John

The part of this book that I enjoyed the most was the opening in which General Sherman summarized the events from the previous book in the series ("Stars and Stripes Forever"). That's how I would have liked the entire book to have been handled: In a short story format. The ideas presented in the book were interesting, but I didn't enjoy having to wade through 336 pages to find them. Rather than read this book, I'd recommend waiting for the third book in the series ("Stars and Stripes Triumphant") and read the summary of the first two books that will probably appear there.

Harry Harrison's "Stars & Stripes In Peril" excels as a textbook example of what might have happened if the United States had launched a blitzkrieg invasion of Ireland during the early 1860's. Harrison is at his best when he describes the American campaign and its hard fought battles on land and sea. Yet this book does show many of the same problems as its predecessor, especially with regards to character development. Yet there is at least one memorable character, Don Ambrosio O'Higgins, who is more compelling than historical figures such as Lincoln, Lee or Grant. Yet this is a fine page turner, and one I'd recommend for a quick read. If you want a more substantial novel of alternative history, choose any of the ones recently written by Harry Turtledove.

I agree with other reviewers that Mr. Harrison's ideas are interesting, but the manner in which they are put forth are very mediocre and flat. What I noticed most was how in a number of scenes, the author would have two people conversing, and then either change the identity of one of the characters or change their military rank in mid-conversation. It leads me to believe that Mr. Harrison's proof-reader was either not very diligent or didn't exist...or perhaps he gave up. For example, in a conversation between General Bragg and a major of the 29th Connecticut, the general refers to the major as a major, until he says something to the effect of, "grab your bag captain." This happens several other times. In his previous book in this series, a conversation between President Lincoln and Secretary of State Seward became a conversation between Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton.

This book and it's series is a quick, breezy read. They should not be taken for anything else but that. The historical element to this series is paper thin. The laughable way the author puts American leaders on a pedestal and the British in the gutter reminds me of a really bad World War Two movie where all the Americans are big strapping boys from the Midwest and Brooklyn, while all the Japanese are buck-toothed, wear coke bottle bottom eyeglasses, and speak pidgin English.

Bad Britain, bad, bad Britain.

Stars and Stripes in Peril continues Harry Harrison's story of an Anglo-American war in the 1860s, reuniting the formerly warring North and South. While the scenario Harrison presents in fascinating, the novel, like it's predecessor, is a disappointment. Its main drawback is it's total lack of three diminsional charectors. Harrison manages to make fascinating people like Grant, Sherman, and Lee cardboard cutouts, interchangable figures in set piece situations. The reader is also wanting to know what even more fascinating Civil War actors would have behaved in the scenario he presented (Chamberlain, Armestaid, and-of course-George Armstrong Custer comes to mind.) One is left wondering what the story could have been in the hands of a far more skilled and knowlegdable writer-like Jeff Shaara-could have been.

--Mark R. Whittington (...)

From a single small change in history came a British invasion of the United States and the reunification of Union and Confederacy. The British were driven out, Canada declared its independence from the United Kingdom, and then things settled down for a little while. But Harry Harrison knows his history (unfortunately, he knows his history better than our current gaggle of politicians), he knows that an enemy unconquered is an enemy undefeated. Britain has a new plan: to invade the United States through a politically divided and tumultuous Mexico. How successful have we been at securing our border with Mexico today? Would it have been possible to secure that border in the 1860s? No. A bold counter-invasion is necessary. Considering how many Irish have emigrated to America, considering America's easy access, then, to military intelligence of the Emerald Isle as well as soldiers who are highly motivated to return home in triumph, an American invasion of Ireland is a plausible counter-move to the British presence in Mexico.

Harrison's "Stars and Stripes" series continues to entertain, with stories not too spare in detail, but not bogged down in detail either. Innovative machines of war, which began to appear in reality during the Civil War, are further accelerated by the new threat from Britain, as innovation is always driven by the pressures of war and security. These weapons launch General William Tecumseh Sherman well ahead of his Continental counterparts, and catch them wholly unprepared. He discovers "Lightening War"--Blitzkrieg--quite by accident when he realizes that he can move his troops quickly by train and overwhelm traditional defenses with his modern weapons. Warfare has inadvertently leapt into the 20th century in an eerie precursor of what we all know was to come.

I know the Brits are none-too-fond of this series, and I don't blame them, but these books are fun reading on this side of the pond. Just the alternate-idea of General Robert E. Lee's invasion of northern Ireland is enough to thrill.