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American Empire #1
Blood & Iron
AMERICAN EMPIRE: BOOK ONE
Twice in the last century, brutal war erupted between the United States and the Confederacy. Then, after a generation of relative peace, The Great War exploded worldwide. As the conflict engulfed Europe, the C.S.A. backed the Allies, while the U.S. found its own ally in Imperial Germany. The Confederate States, France, and England all fell. Russia self-destructed, and the Japanese, seeing that the cause was lost, retired to fight another day.
The Great War has ended, and an uneasy peace reigns around most of the world. But nowhere is the peace more fragile than on the continent of North America, where bitter enemies share a single landmass and two long, bloody borders.
In the North, proud Canadian nationalists try to resist the colonial power of the United States. In the South, the once-mighty Confederate States have been pounded into poverty and merciless inflation. U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt refuses to return to pre-war borders. The scars of the past will not soon be healed. The time is right for madmen, demagogues, and terrorists.
At this crucial moment in history, with Socialists rising to power in the U.S. under the leadership of presidential candidate Upton Sinclair, a dangerous fanatic is on the rise in the Confederacy, preaching a message of hate. And in Canada another man--a simple farmer--has a nefarious plan: to assassinate the greatest U.S. war hero, General George Armstrong Custer.
With tension on the seas high, and an army of Marxist Negroes lurking in the swamplands of the Deep South, more than enough people are eager to return the world to war. Harry Turtledove sends his sprawling cast of men and women--wielding their own faiths, persuasions, and private demons--into the troubled times between the wars.
From the Hardcover edition.
Twice in the last century, brutal war erupted between the United States and the Confederacy. Then, after a generation of relative peace, The Great War exploded worldwide. As the conflict engulfed Europe, the C.S.A. backed the Allies, while the U.S. found its own ally in Imperial Germany. The Confederate States, France, and England all fell. Russia self-destructed, and the Japanese, seeing that the cause was lost, retired to fight another day.
The Great War has ended, and an uneasy peace reigns around most of the world. But nowhere is the peace more fragile than on the continent of North America, where bitter enemies share a single landmass and two long, bloody borders.
In the North, proud Canadian nationalists try to resist the colonial power of the United States. In the South, the once-mighty Confederate States have been pounded into poverty and merciless inflation. U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt refuses to return to pre-war borders. The scars of the past will not soon be healed. The time is right for madmen, demagogues, and terrorists.
At this crucial moment in history, with Socialists rising to power in the U.S. under the leadership of presidential candidate Upton Sinclair, a dangerous fanatic is on the rise in the Confederacy, preaching a message of hate. And in Canada another man--a simple farmer--has a nefarious plan: to assassinate the greatest U.S. war hero, General George Armstrong Custer.
With tension on the seas high, and an army of Marxist Negroes lurking in the swamplands of the Deep South, more than enough people are eager to return the world to war. Harry Turtledove sends his sprawling cast of men and women--wielding their own faiths, persuasions, and private demons--into the troubled times between the wars.
From the Hardcover edition.
656 pages, Paperback
First published July 31, 2001
135 people are currently reading
1283 people want to read
About the author
Harry Turtledove
564 books1,968 followersDr Harry Norman Turtledove is an American novelist, who has produced a sizeable number of works in several genres including alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction.
Harry Turtledove attended UCLA, where he received a Ph.D. in Byzantine history in 1977.
Turtledove has been dubbed "The Master of Alternate History". Within this genre he is known both for creating original scenarios: such as survival of the Byzantine Empire; an alien invasion in the middle of the World War II; and for giving a fresh and original treatment to themes previously dealt with by other authors, such as the victory of the South in the American Civil War; and of Nazi Germany in the Second World War.
His novels have been credited with bringing alternate history into the mainstream. His style of alternate history has a strong military theme.
Harry Turtledove attended UCLA, where he received a Ph.D. in Byzantine history in 1977.
Turtledove has been dubbed "The Master of Alternate History". Within this genre he is known both for creating original scenarios: such as survival of the Byzantine Empire; an alien invasion in the middle of the World War II; and for giving a fresh and original treatment to themes previously dealt with by other authors, such as the victory of the South in the American Civil War; and of Nazi Germany in the Second World War.
His novels have been credited with bringing alternate history into the mainstream. His style of alternate history has a strong military theme.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 62 reviews
July 7, 2009
I realized only in the middle of this that, while it's part 1 of a trilogy, it's also really book 7 of a 9 book set. So I was a little lost for a bit, but was eventually after to figure out exactly what was going on.
What Turtledove's done with this series is set up an alternate history of the United States; one in which the Confederate States of America won the US Civil War, and were able to establish themselves as a significant political and economic force.
This series, specifically, starts a little over 50 years after the end of the Civil War; The USA and the German Empire have just been victorious in World War I, winning a decisive victory over Quadruple Alliance of Russia, England, France, and the CSA. As a result of the war, the USA is occupying Canada, and is demanding reparations from the CSA.
If you're a student of history, you can kind of guess where this is going: hyperinflation, chronic unemployment, and bitterness about the outcome of the war result in a large group of people in the country becoming increasingly angry and leaning towards violence, which certain political forces manipulate by placing the blame on aristocrats in government and minority groups present in the country. Turtledove has the CSA parallel fate of the Weimar Republic in our reality, and seeing those parallels is one of the main sources of tension in the book.
The main problem I had with the book was that it relies too heavily on that knowledge of history to drive your interest in the story. The main dramatic tension comes from knowing your history between the two world wars, rather than from the characters; at times they seem almost like set-pieces being moved around in order to move the historical story from A to B. Still, the idea is interesting enough that I'll make sure to read the next two books in the trilogy.
What Turtledove's done with this series is set up an alternate history of the United States; one in which the Confederate States of America won the US Civil War, and were able to establish themselves as a significant political and economic force.
This series, specifically, starts a little over 50 years after the end of the Civil War; The USA and the German Empire have just been victorious in World War I, winning a decisive victory over Quadruple Alliance of Russia, England, France, and the CSA. As a result of the war, the USA is occupying Canada, and is demanding reparations from the CSA.
If you're a student of history, you can kind of guess where this is going: hyperinflation, chronic unemployment, and bitterness about the outcome of the war result in a large group of people in the country becoming increasingly angry and leaning towards violence, which certain political forces manipulate by placing the blame on aristocrats in government and minority groups present in the country. Turtledove has the CSA parallel fate of the Weimar Republic in our reality, and seeing those parallels is one of the main sources of tension in the book.
The main problem I had with the book was that it relies too heavily on that knowledge of history to drive your interest in the story. The main dramatic tension comes from knowing your history between the two world wars, rather than from the characters; at times they seem almost like set-pieces being moved around in order to move the historical story from A to B. Still, the idea is interesting enough that I'll make sure to read the next two books in the trilogy.
September 7, 2009
This is the first book of a trilogy that's actually the middle trilogy of a 9 book Series. Think of it as "The New Hope: Ep 4".
The series is the "Timeline 191", in which the South wins the Civil War, and battles the North in WW1 and WW2.
This book takes place after the Great War. The US beats the Confederacy, and imposes sanctions and reparations, similar to what happened to Germany after WW1.
It sets the stage for a tyrannical ruler in the South, and a nationalistic fever which leads to the WW2.
Turtledove is repetitive, and doesn't evoke deep images, but he does know how to tell a story, and has a great imagination.
The series is the "Timeline 191", in which the South wins the Civil War, and battles the North in WW1 and WW2.
This book takes place after the Great War. The US beats the Confederacy, and imposes sanctions and reparations, similar to what happened to Germany after WW1.
It sets the stage for a tyrannical ruler in the South, and a nationalistic fever which leads to the WW2.
Turtledove is repetitive, and doesn't evoke deep images, but he does know how to tell a story, and has a great imagination.
October 6, 2020
I do love every entry into this series. The world-building alone is definitely worth the read...who doesn't want to see a Socialist President of the United States? :) The allegory between Featherston and Hitler, of course, couldn't be more apparent, but that is the idea, after all.
It's a bit slow compared to the preceding Great War series. This is the "interwar period" when not much happens, so we just hop from character to character as they proceed through the early 1920s. But still worth the read if you enjoy the Southern Victory series.
It's a bit slow compared to the preceding Great War series. This is the "interwar period" when not much happens, so we just hop from character to character as they proceed through the early 1920s. But still worth the read if you enjoy the Southern Victory series.
September 27, 2020
Good but the further through this series i get the more missed potential a more thoughtful writer could have made work.
August 29, 2011
This series continues to be as captivating as ever. I would say this volume of the series was even better than the previous, which kind of felt like it was dragging on a bit there at the end of the war.
It was pretty mesmerizing in a horrifying way to see the watch the Freedom parties shooting star. It was also amazing to see how easily that star was knocked back down to earth. If not for the fact that once before I had read the next few books in this series (they weren't all released when I read them through the first time) I'd be left wondering if the Freedom party was done for at the end of this book. Know whats coming to a certain extent, and knowing the Freedom party is to a certain extent supposed to parallel the Nazi party it was incredibly chilling to see Featherson's fascination with the radio during the last chapter of the book.
I'd also like to point out that the first time I read through this part of the series was during the middle of the Bush years. It is now near the middle of the Obama years. Both time periods have seen the far right of American politics showing their extremes (although in very different ways), and there are moments in this book where the mentality of people in the Freedom party are too close for comfort to the mentality of people I know who describe them self as Tea Party members. I'm definitely not saying I think the Tea party movement is trying to become a Nazi like political force, but the parallels of fascist thoughts are there. I know this is just fiction, but it comes of as pretty convincingly realistic. There are countless ways human thought can go wrong, countless ways our logic can trip up and lead us to do horrible cruel things to other people. Nationalism, fascism, fascism and class warfare are just some of those ways... In a lot of ways these books make me realize how lucky we as American's have been, having so much peace at our borders for so long.
It was pretty mesmerizing in a horrifying way to see the watch the Freedom parties shooting star. It was also amazing to see how easily that star was knocked back down to earth. If not for the fact that once before I had read the next few books in this series (they weren't all released when I read them through the first time) I'd be left wondering if the Freedom party was done for at the end of this book. Know whats coming to a certain extent, and knowing the Freedom party is to a certain extent supposed to parallel the Nazi party it was incredibly chilling to see Featherson's fascination with the radio during the last chapter of the book.
I'd also like to point out that the first time I read through this part of the series was during the middle of the Bush years. It is now near the middle of the Obama years. Both time periods have seen the far right of American politics showing their extremes (although in very different ways), and there are moments in this book where the mentality of people in the Freedom party are too close for comfort to the mentality of people I know who describe them self as Tea Party members. I'm definitely not saying I think the Tea party movement is trying to become a Nazi like political force, but the parallels of fascist thoughts are there. I know this is just fiction, but it comes of as pretty convincingly realistic. There are countless ways human thought can go wrong, countless ways our logic can trip up and lead us to do horrible cruel things to other people. Nationalism, fascism, fascism and class warfare are just some of those ways... In a lot of ways these books make me realize how lucky we as American's have been, having so much peace at our borders for so long.
January 8, 2015
I'll start off by saying that this is actually the second time I have tried to read this book.
When I was in high school and early college I completed Turtledove's Great War series. Naturally reading Blood and Iron and the rest of the American Empire series would be a given. However, I hit a bit of stumbling block. When I started ready B&I, the authors structure for his chapters threw me off (even though the GW novels were similar). The long chapters became and issue and I tabled the book.
Flash forward 10+ years, and I have finally come back around Blood & Iron. After I put my issues with chapter length aside, I dove in and found a very enjoyable read. While not as action packed as the GW series, B&I makes up for it with tons of political intrigue and character conflicts.
Overall an excellent read, even though its a little wordy.
When I was in high school and early college I completed Turtledove's Great War series. Naturally reading Blood and Iron and the rest of the American Empire series would be a given. However, I hit a bit of stumbling block. When I started ready B&I, the authors structure for his chapters threw me off (even though the GW novels were similar). The long chapters became and issue and I tabled the book.
Flash forward 10+ years, and I have finally come back around Blood & Iron. After I put my issues with chapter length aside, I dove in and found a very enjoyable read. While not as action packed as the GW series, B&I makes up for it with tons of political intrigue and character conflicts.
Overall an excellent read, even though its a little wordy.
May 20, 2022
This is the first novel in Turtledove’s American Empire series, which picks up where his last series, The Great War leaves off.
Turtledove writes a genre known as alternate history. This series of novels were crafted on the presumption that the Confederacy won the Civil War and achieved independence from the United States. They fought again twenty years later in the Second Mexican War (How Few Remain) and again in the World War I period. The U.S. aligned itself with Germany while the Confederacy aligned itself with England and France. The U.S. was finally able to defeat the Confederacy this go-round.
Blood & Iron picks up following the end of the war. In the Confederate States, they are plagued by having to pay reparations to the U.S. causing tremendous inflation. Enter Jake Featherston, who we know from the previous series of novels. Convinced that the aristocracy present in the Confederate War Department is largely to blame for losing the war as well as his own inability to advance in the military despite a great record, he forms the Freedom Party. The tactics of the Freedom Party, as well as Featherston’s own speeches are eerily reminiscent of the Nazi Party. At one point he even talks about “giving the gas” to blacks on whom he also lays a great deal of the blame for the lost war. Their Socialist uprising in the middle of the fighting hurt the Confederacy a great deal.
To read my full review, please see: https://thoughtsfromthemountaintop.co...
Turtledove writes a genre known as alternate history. This series of novels were crafted on the presumption that the Confederacy won the Civil War and achieved independence from the United States. They fought again twenty years later in the Second Mexican War (How Few Remain) and again in the World War I period. The U.S. aligned itself with Germany while the Confederacy aligned itself with England and France. The U.S. was finally able to defeat the Confederacy this go-round.
Blood & Iron picks up following the end of the war. In the Confederate States, they are plagued by having to pay reparations to the U.S. causing tremendous inflation. Enter Jake Featherston, who we know from the previous series of novels. Convinced that the aristocracy present in the Confederate War Department is largely to blame for losing the war as well as his own inability to advance in the military despite a great record, he forms the Freedom Party. The tactics of the Freedom Party, as well as Featherston’s own speeches are eerily reminiscent of the Nazi Party. At one point he even talks about “giving the gas” to blacks on whom he also lays a great deal of the blame for the lost war. Their Socialist uprising in the middle of the fighting hurt the Confederacy a great deal.
To read my full review, please see: https://thoughtsfromthemountaintop.co...
September 2, 2021
It's a bit painful to read the negative reviews, especially because I agree that the book was slow paced. I have developed my own strategy for reading this series. I read a 100 pages, put it down and read another book. I also have the same strategy for David Webber's mega Safehold series. That series is really slow and will overwhelm with infinite details of military weapons construction. But I still admire both Turtledove and Webber's big picture concepts.
What I find curious in Blood and Iron, is that the social history is missing. After all this is the 1920s. Was there a roaring twenties ??? We get a little social context in the chapters with Flora and the New York socialists, but I would have liked to know about other twists on historical characters. I'm not asking for whole chapters just some quick name dropping like Steven King does in his books.
Knowing how many books are left to read in this series (Settleing Accounts), I have jumped laterally and am now reading Turtledove's WorldWar series . This series has the same format, brief chapters and many characters but the first book moves faster than Blood and Iron. I may be a whole lot older when I get through all of Turtledove and Webber's books, but I'm determined to get there.
What I find curious in Blood and Iron, is that the social history is missing. After all this is the 1920s. Was there a roaring twenties ??? We get a little social context in the chapters with Flora and the New York socialists, but I would have liked to know about other twists on historical characters. I'm not asking for whole chapters just some quick name dropping like Steven King does in his books.
Knowing how many books are left to read in this series (Settleing Accounts), I have jumped laterally and am now reading Turtledove's WorldWar series . This series has the same format, brief chapters and many characters but the first book moves faster than Blood and Iron. I may be a whole lot older when I get through all of Turtledove and Webber's books, but I'm determined to get there.
March 30, 2021
The similarities to the US in the 1920s and today are striking:
Spanish flu -- COVID-19
black people still fighting for justice & equality
Asian hate crimes
The way Harry Turtledove wrote the election of 1920 seemed just like the 2016 election of Donald Trump. It is brilliant. I felt just as depressed reading it as I did in 2016.
Featherstone was writing his "Mein Kampf" while he's trying to become president. He wasn't a struggling artist, but he was held back in rank unfairly.
If Turtledove is sticking to history, it makes sense that Featherstone would be a racist. He's like Hitler, but the US had a massive surge in the white nationalist movement in the 1920s.
Quotes I liked from the book:
A party that shouts for freedom doesn't want it.
Do we want them to think of nothing but paying us back?
Spanish flu -- COVID-19
black people still fighting for justice & equality
Asian hate crimes
The way Harry Turtledove wrote the election of 1920 seemed just like the 2016 election of Donald Trump. It is brilliant. I felt just as depressed reading it as I did in 2016.
Featherstone was writing his "Mein Kampf" while he's trying to become president. He wasn't a struggling artist, but he was held back in rank unfairly.
If Turtledove is sticking to history, it makes sense that Featherstone would be a racist. He's like Hitler, but the US had a massive surge in the white nationalist movement in the 1920s.
Quotes I liked from the book:
A party that shouts for freedom doesn't want it.
Do we want them to think of nothing but paying us back?
August 24, 2024
I think this book is where the series goes from good to excellent. The author uses his alternate history setting to explore a lot of social issues in American culture, many that were important and transformed society in the 1920s, and those that still affect us today. The Freedom Party clearly follows the trajectory of many interwar European fascist parties, but it's a take on an American version of fascism, fueled by white grievance instead of ethnic nationalism. All the different characters' stories have been building throughout the previous three books and that lends a coherence and depth to their continuation here. Each character's journey feels like a natural accumulation of experiences, contingent events, emotional reactions, and historical forces.
March 14, 2025
I didn’t finish the book. I liked the premise and the writing was interesting, though not spectacular. The trouble was the further I got into in the less I felt like it was going to come to a compelling conclusion. I found out after I bailed that the book is one of three of a trilogy that belongs smack dab in the middle of an 11 part series. So I was right about it not wrapping up. I did not love it enough to start the beginning and make an 11 book commitment. I will say Turtledove did a good job of making the characters comprehensible for those who had not read the books before it. The characters defiantly had backstory, that I now expect was covered in previous books but nothing felt unclear when I read it.
January 2, 2019
This is my first book for the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2019. This is for #2, an alternate history novel.
I tried to find a book that wasn't part of a series, and since this said #1 I thought I was safe! I was wrong. This is part one of a trilogy written within a nine part series.
The book has an interesting premise: the Confederacy has risen again and been defeated again by the United States. The US has also taken over Canada. The characters were obviously introduced in prior novels so it was hard to pick them up in the middle. None of the characters were particularly intriguing or made me care much about them.
All in all, a disappointing start.
I tried to find a book that wasn't part of a series, and since this said #1 I thought I was safe! I was wrong. This is part one of a trilogy written within a nine part series.
The book has an interesting premise: the Confederacy has risen again and been defeated again by the United States. The US has also taken over Canada. The characters were obviously introduced in prior novels so it was hard to pick them up in the middle. None of the characters were particularly intriguing or made me care much about them.
All in all, a disappointing start.
May 14, 2019
Turtledove: you know what you'll get. Nothing more, nothing less.
This first series book is actually directly following Breakthroughs, just after a few years - all pros & cons are typically turtledovian: excruciatingly long parts just recovering and reconnecting to the multiple subplots/characters, some interesting stuff here and there, a slow (very slow in this specific case) advancement in the alternate history "Grand Plan", clearly bringing the world (in later books) to a new alternate WW2.
That's all.
This first series book is actually directly following Breakthroughs, just after a few years - all pros & cons are typically turtledovian: excruciatingly long parts just recovering and reconnecting to the multiple subplots/characters, some interesting stuff here and there, a slow (very slow in this specific case) advancement in the alternate history "Grand Plan", clearly bringing the world (in later books) to a new alternate WW2.
That's all.
August 6, 2019
All in all, Harry T picks things up nicely from the end of the previous (World War I, sorta) trilogy, and moves the plot at a faster pace than previously. Some of the major characters of the past trilogy meet their maker, some survive but move on, and others seem destined to return in subsequent novels. Since Harry T displaces Weimar Germany to the Confederate States of America in the 1920s, you don't need a roadmap to see how the next novels might unfold up to the era of our World War II. But however far-fetched some events seem, this novel was actually great fun.
November 1, 2021
This book is the first part of the inter-war period between the First and Second Great Wars. Therefore, nothing really happens. Sure, some people rise and fall (literally) but it is lacking the action of Turtledove’s alternate World War One trilogy. Also, there were no new characters introduced from the last book in the Great War trilogy. I look for American Empire #2 to build on the tension and/or introduced new characters. If not, it’ll be a long trilogy.
November 14, 2024
I really enjoyed how Turtledove created a great understanding of the political environment and mood in the CSA, USA, and Canada. The characters feel flat but he definitely created intrigue related to the big picture. I would recommend this book, but with a caveat. It would probably be best to read this series from the very start. This book is the 7th of a 9 book set. I rate it a solid 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.
January 13, 2020
It is always a sight for Turtledove to make literally any book its own scenario. Although I had learned the overall lore of Timeline-191, it still felt as if this book as a single novel. Plus, the characters are so well woven into their respective situations that it feels somewhat cinematic.
May 7, 2017
Even more on that timeline.
December 22, 2017
A little slow
It was a bit slow in the first three quarters of the book, lots of politics and not much action. The last quarter, I couldn’t put it down
It was a bit slow in the first three quarters of the book, lots of politics and not much action. The last quarter, I couldn’t put it down
Want to read
July 19, 2020elibrary
August 7, 2020
First of the middle trilogy , the interwar years , as we follow the rise and fall ( at the moment ) of the freedom party.
Even though there is little action , these books are gripping
Even though there is little action , these books are gripping
June 6, 2021
Amazing how accurate this has become
Who knew fascist take over of red states was so predictable. It’s almost like capitalism can only lead to a socialist or fascist take over.
Who knew fascist take over of red states was so predictable. It’s almost like capitalism can only lead to a socialist or fascist take over.
October 18, 2022
goog book
March 7, 2024
Solid book even if the accelerated timeline can be a little jarring sometimes. Definitely kept it from getting too boring by focusing on general minutiae. Sets up the next few years nicely.
May 22, 2024
Fun being brought into that world and had amazing payoffs but some perspectives were a bit slow.
December 29, 2024
An interesting sequel to a series where WWI turned out differently. Several events in this early 1900s tale are eerily close to events of today.
October 19, 2023
This is the 5th book of an 11-book series. Very entertaining and packed with interesting twists on history from after the American Civil War until the end of World War II. I'm saving the four- and five-star rating for weightier material.
December 21, 2007
Why am I reading this book? This is the first volume of the American Empire trilogy, which is the sequel to The Great War trilogy, which is a sequel to How Few Remain. I think that makes it the fifth volume of a 11 or so volume series. (Did I mention the trilogy or whateverlogy that follows American Empire?) What can I say? Mr. Turtledove has created some interesting characters and he hasn't killed them all off yet. So we have Blood & Iron. The Great War is over and folks are dealing with the aftermath. The people of the United States are ecstatic, basking in the glory of their first victory over the Confederacy. The (surviving) soldiers either return home seeking to prosper in civilian life or remain in the service to face the cutbacks in government spending that follows the war. The Confederates, on the other hand, are suffering not only an unfamiliar humiliation, but also the burden of war reparations. Inflation soars and anger simmers. The nation's discontent finds a voice in the newly formed Freedom Party, who look to blame the Confederacy's defeat on the current government and people with dark skin. (Because the CSA could have beaten the damnyankees if the Socialist blacks hadn't rebelled in 1915 and diverted the war effort.) And then there's the Canadians, who don't have a fierce rivalry with the USA, but just wish the jerks would stop occupying their country and go home. Like it's predecessors, this book's a nice tapestry of human lives lived against the backdrop of history. Well, alternate history, anyway.
June 10, 2013
This book has some interesting ideas and some fantastically bad writing. The events described in this alternate time line are interesting, even if they are blatantly near exact historical parallels with different countries names slapped on them. He does a fine job of ripping of other histories and retooling them that the blatant parallelism works and is interesting.
What doesn't work is this man's writing. This has some of the absolute worst dialog I have ever read. All of his characters have no personality and are just bad clichés. I can forgive that some characters are just set pieces to show what it might be like to be a black man or single mom in the early 20th century, but the painful dialog and absolutely flat characterization of his dozen characters overshadows what might be an interesting alternative history.
What doesn't work is this man's writing. This has some of the absolute worst dialog I have ever read. All of his characters have no personality and are just bad clichés. I can forgive that some characters are just set pieces to show what it might be like to be a black man or single mom in the early 20th century, but the painful dialog and absolutely flat characterization of his dozen characters overshadows what might be an interesting alternative history.
May 28, 2017
The Great War has officially ended with CSA surrendered to USA and it was forced to pay reparations and saw its military dismantled. After being humiliated twice in war, USA finally enacted its revenge on its southern neighbour. Life in the south seemed to be out of hope, with its very social structure broken and the economy got into inflation. Against this situation, a new political power rose in south. The Freedom Party, fueled by its hatreds on both niggers and planter-aristocrats, proppelled itself unto power, and quite successful at first. Meanwhile, after delivered victory, the Democratic Party stranglehold on US government was finally broken. This surely put uncertainty in how the victorious USA dealt with its neighbours both in the north and the south. I tend not to give this book five stars, not because it is bad, but because the lack of action in it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 62 reviews