The Great War: American Front

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Summary: Americans fight a grim World War 1 - on American soil
Review: 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.

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Summary: Alternate History?
Review: I'll begin by saying that I'm not a fan of Turtledove's writing, although I have read a good number of his alternate histories. In most if not all of them, Turtledove employs a hackneyed, flabby writing style that consists of 1)too many characters, 2)stilted dialogue, 3)cartoonish characterization, and 4)sometimes implausible developments. The first three defects sometimes make reading Turtledove's books (especially his WorldWar series) akin to reading a less polished version of "War and Remembrance." The fourth defect, which acts in tandem with the third, detracts from my suspension of disbelief when it comes to some historical conclusions that Turtledove draws. Characters don't always act like real people in Turtledove's books, and Turtledove also has an annoying and unnecessary tendency to put actual historical quotes in the mouths of his characters. The first book in the Great War series suffers from all these defects, as well as a questionable portrayal of race relations (for instance, southern blacks in this alternate world don't have surnames, but many slaves in our own timeline did have surnames). Furthermore, it is odd that the Great War would still happen in 1914, more or less along the lines of our own war. Although on the surface American-German alliance makes sense, I think a southern victory in the Civil War would make the north even more isolationist and desirous of international neutrality. Overall the novel is fairly light entertainment, but it is far from the masterpiece of alternate history that some claim it to be.

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Summary: My money`s on the USA and Germany!!!
Review: The Great War: American Front, is a very interesting read and a great start to this series. The only real drawback was the amount of characters, as it took 3 chapters to be introduced to them all. So, by the time you come around full circle you found that you had forgotten some of the characters, thats why I`ve given the book 4 stars instead of 5! However, it still is a fine piece of work, as we come across some of the characters of How Few Remain: now-US President 'Teddy' Roosevelt and an aging, headstrong General George Custer, who seems to be the US`s equivalent to Britain`s Field Marshal Haig, in terms of military incompetence. Nevertheless, we come across many new characters, ranging from US-airmen to Confederate solidiers to occupied Canadian citizens. Another thing about Turtledove`s books is that he does`nt shy away from killing off or seriously wounding a character here and there, this does make it more interesting and real, for that matter! As stated above my impression on finishing this book, is that the USA and Germany will be the eventual winners of this great hypothetical conflict. For those who have a substantial imagination, a must read!

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Summary: WORLD WAR ONE PLAYED OUT IN AMERICA
Review: 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.

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Summary: Turtledove's Alternate World War One
Review: Harry Turtledove's novel 'The Great War: American Front' is the sequal to his earlier novel, 'How Few Remain.' While 'American Front' is another thought provoking alternate history novel it lacks many of the factors that made 'How Few Remain' and Turtledove's other civil war novel, 'The Guns of the South,' truly great works. The characters in 'American Front' are many and it's easy to get them confused. Two characters in the novel are Canadian farmers that seem so similar that it makes one wonder why Turtledove didn't consolidate them into one. Also, unlike 'How Few Remain' and 'Guns of the South,' actual historical characters take a back seat to Turtledove's fictional creations. The basic premise itself, that the Confederate States of America, which won it's independence during the civil war, goes to war with the United States when thier treaty obligations to European powers demand it, is a little hard to swallow. If indeed the south had gained it's independance from the U.S. the economic desparity between the two nations would make it almost impossible for the C.S.A. to keep up with the north. These points aside 'American Front' has it's moments. Turtledove re-creates the Christmas truce that happened on the western front during WWI and transplants it to America. Instead of British and Germans putting aside thier differences during the Christmas season, it's Union and Confederate troops. Also, it is interesting to see all of North America as a battlefield and just how the U.S. would wage a war on it's own soil. If you're new to Turtledove 'The Great War: American Front' is not the best of his novels to start with. 'How Few Remain,' and 'The Guns of the South' are both far superior.

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Summary: A basic copy of the European war
Review: The book opens with the USA and CSA who apparently are maintaining a relationship which mirrors that of the Entente/Alliance relationships between 1871-1914. When the war breaks out, the USA proceeds to carry out a war which is quite similar to that of Germany (a quick victory in Canada followed by the defeat of the CSA parallel to a quick victory in France followed by the defeat of Russia) with, almost unbelievably, the same results (the US is bogged down on both fronts and quickly begins a trench war) while the CSA (an invasion on one front, the Susquehanna, which is stopped, while another major invasion, West Virginia and Kentucky, into their own territory) seems to mirror Russia (the invasion of Austro-Hungary while dealing with a German invasion in Poland). It appears that all that Turtledove will do with the military aspects of the war are copy what happened in Europe and give them American names. Towards the end of the book, we see the CSA/Russia comparison with the Communist revolution, although it has come a bit early in comparison to the Russian Revolution (1915-CSA, 1917-Russia). It is also a bit odd that the UK can support an army in the defense of Canada and France, while in reality the British army was undermanned for most of the early war years, and in fact depended on Canadian soldiers to help fill their trenches in France. As to the actual war in Europe, we are left rather in the dark, but, aside from the British manpower deficit, the war is basically unaffected. It would be interesting to know how, if at all, the Allies will hold their trenches in the 1918 German offensives and if the British will indeed be able to prevent the Germans from capitalizing on the gaps in the French lines after Nivelle's failure at Champaigne. Otherwise, the book is magnificent, and, unlike some other readers, I do not find the amount of characters to be burdensome, rather enlightening as to the war in many different places. However, I would have rathered had a soldier in Canada than two Canadian families with almost no recognizable difference until the second book, where the Galtiers begin to submit to the USA in a slight manner

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Summary: Outstanding!
Review: Turtledove has written an engrossing, devouring tale of an alternate history. This series has (so far) been far superior to his other works such as "How Few Remain" because most of the characters are fictional or mostly fictional so he is much less limited in character development. Of course, there are many (too many?) subplots, the depth of detail and breadth of vision of Turtledove in this series is remarkable. The most surprising aspect of this series to date has been his sense of humor and sublety. For example, 3-Finger Mordecai Brown makes a subtle cameo appearance, and (not to give too much away), when the AMERICANS bomb Pearl Harbor, a casually tossed in line about "this day will live in infamy" is too rich to pass up. Outstanding.

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Summary: Shaping up to be Turtledove's best work...
Review: In the first book of a projected tetralogy, Turtledove sets the stage for combat of a type never seen before on the American continent. The setup is that a Confederate States of America shares space with the US, each one resentful of the other after two civil wars (the second in the 1880s). The Confederacy is allied with England and France; the United States has allied itself with Germany.

In 1914, all hell breaks loose in Europe, and also in America as well. Each nation starts the war assuming they can defeat their belligerent neighbor in a few weeks, or maybe months at the most. And the longer the fighting goes on, the less either combatant wants to drop out.

The most interesting thing about the series is what Turtledove left out: there's no time travel, no displaced people that know how history ended up in the real world. It's merely an examination of what might have happened if the Civil War ended differently.

Each of the "viewpoint" characters gets several moments in the sun, from people working in politics in New York City to fishermen trying to make a living while avoiding Confederate submarines. And, most importantly, not all of them survive the events of this book. In some alternate history, the protagonists are more or less expected to get through the crises (and the Americans in "1632" seemed to each be carrying a powerful Death Repellent). There are no guarantees in the Great War series, whether the character is American, Confederate, or Canadian.

As the fighting drags on over North America, one gets attached to some characters, and familiar with others. I found myself hoping that one or two characters would survive the book, and in fact my favorite person in the series so far dies in the second book after being transferred to a 'safer' part of the war.

Turtledove has extrapolated what could have been, and tries to mix the familiar with the strange (the best example of this probably being the CSA's camel cavalry in the desert of Arizona, Nevada, and two territories purchased from Mexico). The entire world is just as detailed, and just as strange.

Now can anyone tell me if the fighter pilot "Lyman Baum" is supposed to be L. Frank Baum or not?

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Summary: Turtledove's best series, although not his best book
Review: Harry Turtledove is a recognized master of alternative history. Although he is probably best known for his World War series, the Civil War series that began with HOW FEW REMAIN is doubtless his greatest work. The back-story for this series is a plausible world in which Lee's plans for the 1862 invasion of Pennsylvania did not fall into Union hands. After battles at New Cumberland and Camp Hill in which Lee crushed the Army of the Potomac, leaving Washington cut off, England and France intervene--forcing the North to sue for peace. In HOW FEW REMAIN, the story picked up in 1881 when the North declared war on the Confederacy following the latter's purchase of Chihuahua and Sonora from the Empire of Mexico. (In a nice touch, Turtledove has Maximillian's empire survive. This strikes me as plausible--without a powerful US to put pressure on France, the empire might well have survived.) Following another British and French intervention, the Confederacy is again victorious. The Union is left embittered and hungry for revenge. At the end, Turtledove foreshadows his later work with an emerging alliance between the Union and Imperial Germany. (In another nice touch, Turtledove has Abraham Lincoln lead the radical wing of the Republican Party out of the GOP into a merger with the socialists.) In THE GREAT WAR: AMERICAN FRONT, the story picks up in 1914. World War I has broken out in Europe. The Union and Imperial Germany are staunch allies, while the Confederacy remains allied with England and France. In scenes reminiscent of Barbara Tuchman's THE GUNS OF AUGUST, the Union and the Confederacy plunge into a war paralleling that in Europe. The war doesn't make a lot of sense. In World War I, all of the European players had clear war aims. The war turned out to be a tragic folly, but they all knew why they went to war. In contrast, it's not clear why the Union and Confederacy are fighting (old animosities?) or what their respective war aims are. Does the USA believe it can conquer and reabsorb the Confederacy?

As usual with Turtledove, there are a lot of sub-plots to keep track of--at least a dozen! Crib notes are almost a necessity. Besides being hard to keep track of, some of the plot lines are duplicative. Consider the McGregor and Galtier sub-plots. Both are based around oppressed Canadian families living in territories occupied by US forces. (Even though Germany's experience in two world wars demonstrates that two-front wars are a bad idea, the Union happily jumped into one with the Confederacy to the south and Anglo-Canada to the north.) The chief difference between the two is that they illustrate distinct reactions to occupation...resistance by the McGregors and (slower to be unveiled) a slow fall into collaboration by the Galtiers. From a dramatic perspective, Turtledove would have done better to combine these separate plot lines into a single one, in which the conflict could have been established within a single family, heightening the tension

As with some other reviewers, I was sorry that so few of the characters from HOW FEW REMAIN carried over to AMERICAN FRONT. Only Custer carries over in full force. (Custer, by the way, is one of Turtledove's best creations--I find is Sir Douglas Haig-like character entirely plausible from what I know of Custer's personality.)

Like some other reviewers, I also wish Turtledove had included a sub-plot that gives us the big picture. He could have kept Teddy Roosevelt in the plot and give us the big picture by means of Presidential briefings.

Although I rate AMERICAN FRONT a notch below HOW FEW REMAIN, it is highly recommended.

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Summary: Good Story, poor history
Review: I rate Harry Turtledove as one of the best in the genre of Alternate History. I was somewhat disappointed in How Few Remain and Great War: The American Front. Mr. Turtledove seems to have forgotten the research done for Guns of the South, and the fact that thousands of African Americans served valiantly in the Confederate Army, under arms and in integrated units. The racism that is portrayed in this series was a direct result of the South having actually lost the War and the role that the negro played in the "Reconstruction" of the defeated Confederacy. Even with so blatant an error in historical basis of alternate history, I have found this series enjoyable and look forward to the sequels.