The Great War: American Front

Rating:
Summary: Uneven
Review: The Great War: American Front was better than HOW FEW REMAIN, which I found extremely tedious. Turtledove is capable of great work, but too often he just seems to crank out the words to get another novel finished, it's frustrating to those of us who love good books. I recently finished reading THE TRIUMPH AND THE GLORY, the new WWII novel, and it is so inspiring when the author is passionate about his book, and not just going through the motions, which Turtledove seems to be doing half the time.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but not perfect
Review: The Great War: American Front is an interesting way of continuing the "What if the South won the Civil War?" topic. The book, however, has its limitations. Some of them being due to the fact that Turtledove isn't perfect. 1. Where are the Cubans? I mean, Cuba is a Confederate State. I think that it would have been interesting to get a look at an alternate Cuba. This point also applies to Sonora and Chihuaua. Where are the people from there...? 2. Why is U.S. Army occupying only Ontario, Manitoba and Quebec? Why aren't they trying to get back the land they lost in How Few Remain, which is now part of New Brunswick? That should've been one of the first goals. Also, wouldn't an advance into the other Canadian provinces be a wise strategy? 3. If Utah had rebelled in the way it had in How Few Remain, would they have become a State at all?

Either way, its fun to read this, because it shows what might have happened if the South had won the Civil War, and how later events might be affected by this.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyed it immensely!
Review: As a student of history and an established fan of "alternate history" thanks to the late Randall Garrett, Turtledove's "American Front" was an immensely enjoyable experience for me. Personally, I think it allows the reader a chance to weigh the issues surrounding those turbulent times. It also helps to illustrate how the timeline could have been. But for the "choices" made, here we are at the crossroads of the next millenium, who's to say where we'd be had Harry's future been ours in truth.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Book from Harry Turtledove
Review: Turtledove has written another good read. I read his WORLDWAR series and both HOW FEW REMAIN and GUNS OF THE SOUTH. He has a way to paint pictures with his words. I believe that the personal angles to some of the characters adds flavor and insight to the mood and soul of the USA, CSA and Canada. It also explains the motivations of some people.

Like many who read AH I too am a student of history. What strikes me is how much AH revolves around war. What would the Cold War be like in AH? But, I digress.

What most criticism does not take into account are the many little things that happen in the intervening 50 years that could bring the two sides to where they are. AH could not possibly be anything but 50% correct at best after 50 years. Almost all commentary had a point, yet they could be equally as wrong as what is depicted here in AMERICAN FRONT.

Rating:
Summary: Too much exposition in what should be character conversation
Review: I agree that not enough historical figures appear in this book, too many ordinary Joes and Janes. The fun in alternative history is to show how the Great Ones may have risen anyway. The other problem: Too mcuh exposition in dialogue, too many times, characters who would be talking shop or talking about girls instead go into longwinded historical summaries. Makes the dialogue slow going, Harry T. should shoehorn the background in more realistically. He has some great concepts, but I wish he'd make these two changes!

Rating:
Summary: A look at the people and times of WWI
Review: When you read this book, prepare yourself for a few things: First, pay attention carefully to the characters. There are many of them, and I found myself turning back to try to remember who they are. Second, the social and political aspects of the the war are illustrated better than the military. (I found the red plot and the hint of a slave uprising very interesting, especially as Lenin was Germany's best weapon against Russia).

Other readers have commented that the strategy is flawed and that trench warfare would not have developed in North America, that the US would have been able to crush Canada, Britian, France and the CSA. I will raise two objections: a)in this timeline, the US had been beat twice in the past 50 years. It's economy and population are probably still recovering. On the other hand, the CSA won two wars in the past 50 years, victories which would probably leave their economy very strong (witness the U.S. after WWII). Second, after losing two wars, the Mississippi is probably too heavily defended to make it an easy a target as some believe.

All things considered, this is a very good book and Turtledove deserves much credit.

Rating:
Summary: Definitely not Turtledove's best
Review: I liked The Great War: American Front, but this was definitely not Turtledove's greatest work.

For one, the only character I can really delve into is the aging George Custer, who was very entertaining, but most of his characters seem so plastic.

I didn't like the lack of maps, which were critically needed.

I know war books sell, but I also don't think the US and the CS would continue to fight wars every 30 years.

Still, I'm looking forward to the sequel.

I'm also positive the series will end with the belligerents declaring an cease fire, just like the real war.

Rating:
Summary: Could've been better
Review: Great War: American Front was all and all a typical Harry turtledove book. It was preety good, but I was upset that he didn't really alter the course of the European war with theinclusion of the Yankee war machine. It's worth reading again, though.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent appetizer; awaiting more heft in next book
Review: Mr. Turtledove has struck on an interesting concept in his new alternative history, and I eagerly await his next volume. Nonetheless, I cannot help but think that the book would fare better with connecting references to "How Few Remain" (whatever happened to Lincoln? why not use him as the icon of American Socialism), use of more true life names to draw the reader in (Black Jack Pershing, Alvin York, Eddie Rickenbacker readily come to mind), use of maps to help the reader picture what is happening, a view of the war in Europe, and even the inclusion of crossovers between the European and North American conflict (Churchill comes to the confederacy with his Tanks, Federal ships participate with Germany at Jutland). Finally, I hope there is a little more of a sense of the sweep of the continent where this war is being fought...even if maps were offered, Mr. Turtledove's prose and offered activities could easily suffice for a war fought on the borders of two or three states, and do not give the feel of a war fought across the breadth of the continent.

Rating:
Summary: another watered down book
Review: Harry Turtledove was once one of my favorite authors. That was before he started writing these multi-volume, plodding and painfully slow moving books. Plot and story muddle along, and the reader learns tidbits of what "would've happened if..." in and out of mostly dry 2 page long sub-plots. While I understand the need for characters and dialogue, this is a little extreme. Also extreme is the constant racism exhibited by virtually every white character. While there was a lot of that attitude around in the 19th and early 20th century, there were many many Americans who didn't hate or like one way or the other. Most characters here seem to have strong hatred in them. What would've been more interesting would be so show the hatred as blacks shifted from the fields and took jobs in the factories, or even better, as some became Reds. Has anyone chewed on the idea that maybe the Confederacy and the USA may have had friendly post-bellum relations? With a common language, heritage, ancestry, etc., and with their different economic structures, it's possible. Perhaps runaway slaves could've been the major problem, but likely the south would've been forced to abandon that practice before very long anyway. Obviously that is not the focus of this book. I just hope that in the follow up books (yes, I will buy and read them anyway) things move at a quicker pace