- Mass Market Paperback
- Publisher: Del Rey (Jun 3 1997)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0345422546
- ISBN-13: 978-0345422545
- Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (108 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Library Journal
In 1862, the Confederacy won the War of the Rebellion (not by interference of time travelers, as in Turtledove's Guns of the South, LJ 9/1/92, but by their own skillful military and diplomatic efforts). The defeated North has stewed for nearly 20 years. In this alternate history, the South exercises an opportunity to purchase Sonora and Chihuahua from the bankrupt Mexican Empire, having already wrested Cuba from Spain. James G. Blaine, now president of the United States, arrogantly seizes upon this pretext and invades with the aim of reunification. Lincoln has become an outcast of the Republican Party and preaches socialism while Custer is a frustrated and embittered colonel on the frontier, Samuel Clemens a fiery newspaper editor in San Francisco, and Rosecrans the inadequate head of the Union Army. Turtledove is an accomplished professional at this sort of thing and has given us an entertainment that makes us think somewhat about why we are the way we are. Highly recommended for history, historiography, military, and popular fiction collections.?Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
Turtledove calls his numerous novels "alternative history." He changed the result of the Civil War by giving General Lee AK-47s in Guns of the South (1992); in Worldwar (1996), World War II came to a screeching halt as the belligerents united against alien space lizards. This current novel extends the Civil War theme. The year is 1881. Lincoln, since losing the Civil War and then the presidency, is an itinerant socialist speech-maker. In the Confederate States of America, President James Longstreet buys northern Mexico, and the U.S. president declares war, the course of which operates through several historical figures. In San Francisco, antiwar newspaper publisher Samuel Clemens talks himself out of seditious trouble with William Sherman, while the British fleet reduces the city to rubble. The British/Canadian invasion of Montana is stopped by Teddy Roosevelt, yelling "bully" constantly, and by George Custer, whose brother Tom dies, reappears, and then is later referred to as dead. The War in Mexico goes worse for the bluecoats, as would be expected, since they face the dashing, slashing J.E.B. Stuart and his "camelry" --whether their mounts are dromedaries or Bactrians is unclear. At Louisville, Stonewall Jackson reprises his successes by repelling the Union attack and capturing Frederick Douglass, war correspondent. Turtledove is successful in the plausible, albeit theatrical, characterizations of these figures, and his imaginative curiosity will appeal to the what-if segment of the vast Civil War readership, although they might trip over Tom Custer's dead-or-alive act. Gilbert Taylor
--This text refers to the
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First Sentence
Buffalo bones littered the prairie south of Fort Dodge, Kansas. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
Buffalo bones littered the prairie south of Fort Dodge, Kansas. Read the first page
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
An oldie but a goodie.,
By Amerigo Vespucci (Fairbanks, Alaska) - See all my reviews
This review is from: How Few Remain (Mass Market Paperback)
This is one of HT's earlier books, telling the story of the "Second war between the states," as the tagline goes. There's a brief preface telling why the CSA won it's independance in this timeline, then the story goes into the era of the war, and it really takes off. The characters are well-done, the story is textured, and this book in particular is far superior to his later works, in which he follows our history too closely. That's a different matter, however. Multiple viewpoints cover most aspects of this world, and a foreign viewpoint gives a unique view that is lacking again in his later stuff. He also doesn't fall into the normal authorial trap of not killing off characters, and he's not afraid to have the "good guys" lose. All in all, this is one of his better books, and a good one to introduce someone into the genre.
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of Turtledove's best,
By
This review is from: How Few Remain (Mass Market Paperback)
Harry Turtledove writes many different types of alternate history, some mixed with science fiction (Worldwar series, The Guns of the South), some with a fantasy element (Darkness series, Detina series). How Few Remain is straight alternative history; Turtledove changed one event, and then from this "branching point" a different world emerges. In this book, the Confederate States of America defeated the USA because a courier did not drop secret battle plans (as happened in our timeline). The CSA is a nation in its own right. 20 years later, the USA still seethes from their crushing defeat and economic downturn, and attempts to remake the Union again.Using multiple viewpoints in short vignettes, similar to John Brunner's novels or John de los Passos' USA, Turtledove evokes the moods of different groups and geographies. And as in Worldwar, Turtledove introduces famous people whose lives have changed because their history diverged. Thus Abraham Lincoln lives past 1865 (our 4-year Civil war ended sooner in this timeline, with a different victor), but is disgraced for losing the war, and finds himself extolling the virtues of socialism. Teddy Roosevelt finds an opportunity to drum up a volunteer army at age 21, fighting the Brits in Western Canada. Political intrigue and diplomatic tangles abound. The CSA aligns with England and France, while the USA forms a partnership with Germany. But the US is surrounded by enemies, with British Canada to the North, and the CSA with its new Pacific ports (having purchased two provinces from the Empire of Mexico). The USA is spoiling for a rematch, and President James G. Blaine, the first Republican elected since Lincoln, intends to avenge the loss of the Southern States. How Few Remain is the springboard for Turtledove's Great War series, with a USA/CSA version of World War I thirty years later. These are followed by the American Empire series of the 1920s and 1930s, with the CSA playing the role of Germany in our timeline. While these books are enjoyable, none of them compares with the freshness and the fullness of HFR. Several critics of Turtledove's novels, such as the six books in the two series mentioned above, note they are painted with too broad a brush, and painted by the numbers. This novel transcends the others' failings, though, by evoking a haunting sense of defeat and despair in his descriptions of the defeated North.
5.0 out of 5 stars
this book is interesting,
By
This review is from: How Few Remain (Mass Market Paperback)
I read this book about 3 years ago so I don't remember everything about it but it explains how the world could have been if the south had won the civil war it basically sets the stage for the next series the great war
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