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Back in the USSA
1989... One of the two superpowers which has dominated the 20th century is on the verge of being torn apart. The old communists regime which has held sway since the Revolution of 1917 is weak and divided. Dissident voices, silent for too long, have been raised against the corrupt and inefficient gangsterism of a morally and financially bankrupt ruling party. A new age of openness and reconstruction is dawning... This is the United Socialist States of America. When Eugene Debs led the Revolution, few expected it to lead to the iron-fisted regime of Chairman Al "Scarface" Capone, a dictatorship that would last into the 1950s. But no tyranny, capitalist or communists, can stop real revolutionaries like Buddy Holy, Howard Hughes, Tom Joad, Eliot Ness, Kurt Vonnegut, andthe Blues Brothers. This is the story of 20th century where America had a revolution... and Russia didn't; where there were Tsars in the Kremlin and Commissars in the White House. Where America invaded Japan and Britain fought the war in Vietnam; where Isaac Asimov was a Russian TV astrologer and Ed Gein was a Hero of Labor. Kim Newman and Eugene Byrne turn history on its head with this novel of "what if...?" -- a must-read for Proletariats world-wide!
356 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
May 9, 2012
Kim Newman is the most accomplished practitioner of "alternate history", as evident from his astonishing Anno Dracula series, as well as his dark & daring tales of the Diogenes Club in 'this' world. But in this book, perhaps because of the geography (the United States of America is, after all, much-much bigger than the comparatively tiny UK or Britain envisaged by Saki, in his "When William Came" or in the Anno Dracula books), the gallop never becomes canter. There are intriguing flashes of Newman's magical touches here & there. The way pop culture and history mixes into imagination to give it a pseudo credibility is also very good. But it could have been great. Perhaps the authors would give it a new flourish, adding a few more taut novellas to the main body, when they (hopefully) re-release this book at some point of time. Recommended.
November 4, 2016
Try to picture this: a communist United States! It's been done before by plenty of alternate history (althist) authors, but probably never the way that historian/journalist Eugene Byrne and fiction author/weirdo Kim Newman have imagined it in this rollicking collection of novellas. Other althist writers would have been strict in determining exactly how the 20th century would have turned out if the United States had gone communist at its start, but this team does not go for this "hard science fiction" approach. Instead, they try a "space opera" approach and recast the historical roles of the century's major world powers: this communist USA becomes like the USSR, a still-Tsarist Russia takes the place of the United Kingdom, and Great Britain more closely resembles the United States. (Oh, and France is China.) This lets them have fun with presenting historical figures and events in a new way as Al Capone becomes this timeline's version of Joseph Stalin, and British and Russian soldiers fight American-backed Vietcong forces.
Althist purists may balk, and the question remains: why didn't Byrne and Newman try harder than substituting American socialist leader Eugene V. Debs for Russian socialist leader Vladimir Lenin? Well, perhaps they just felt that predicting an actual alternate timeline was futile. After all, there's no way they'd get every detail right no matter how much they research, and there's no way they could ever know if this is how it'd actually be. Or perhaps they thought it'd be more entertaining and interesting to do it this way. Althist writing for the sake of considering an alternate timeline is mostly an exercise in interpreting our own history. Why not just have some fun with it?
Speaking of which, they certainly seem to be enjoying themselves in the way that they reimagine historical figures in this timeline. Jack Kerouac and Howard Hughes are noncomformist drifters roaming the country by barnstormer, Isaac Asimov still lives in Russia and reads people's fortunes, and Alfred Hitchcock is a restaurant owner with a habit of poisoning past critics, among many others. Some of them are used specifically as replacements for the roles of real-life figures, much like how the world powers switch places - for example, Jean-Luc Godard is this world's Mao Zedong. Wikipedia has a list of them, though I didn't see Bill Clinton, listed as this world's Vladimir Putin, while reading the book.
More entertaining, at least for me, is the typical Newman trope of inserting fictional characters into the story. The main trigger of change in this timeline is that Teddy Roosevelt is assassinated and succeeded as president by Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles's film Citizen Kane), the epitome of American capitalist monsters; Tom Joad (John Steinbeck's Dust Bowl classic The Grapes of Wrath) is a folk hero of the proletariat; and Ensign Chekhov (yes, from Star Trek!) is the lover of a Russian princess, also among many others. The inclusion of such characters doesn't always work - the last section in particular includes JR Ewing, the Blues Brothers, and The Man with No Name in 1998 - but most of the time it makes things just a little more interesting.
All this is to say that the worldbuilding is quite excellent. Byrne and Newman are both experienced in writing althists, and it doesn't take long at all before they manage to immerse the reader in this familiar yet disturbing world. Better still, they do it without pounding it over our heads, meaning no one says, "Man, can you imagine if we hadn't gone through a communist revolution in 1917?" A lot of this is owed to Newman's writing style of interchanging paragraphs of exposition with paragraphs describing the actions of the moment, which seems adept for balancing worldbuilding with moving the plot along.
But none of this wouldn't work if we weren't invested in the protagonists, and thankfully, we are. It's exciting to see meek boy scout Charles Holdin Holley (known to most as Buddy Holly) stand up to his heroes, and by extension the communist government, in "In the Air." We can't help but cheer when Debs and his rebel forces overthrow the disgustingly decadent robber barons at the end of "Ten Days That Shook the World," even though we know that more villains will take their place. And the outcome of Melvin Purvis's hunt for a folk hero in "Tom Joad" is something to behold.
I'll readily admit that some of the novellas are weaker than others. "Citizen Ed" is humorous, but not quite as compelling as the adventure stories that precede it. "Abdication Street" shows what Russia is like in this timeline, but otherwise feels rather fluffy. And there's something strangely disjointed about "On the Road," the concluding story written specifically for this collection. It ends the book not with a bang, but with a whimper and some really weird imagery. But when the stories don't feel light and don't have trouble finding their tone, they're great.
It's a shame, then, that this book is so difficult to find. I've been looking (on and off) for this collection for years, and I couldn't even find it at my local libraries. Thankfully, an inter-library loan request gave me the gift to finally give it a try, and it's been worth the effort. Back in the USSA hits way more often than it doesn't, and even the lesser stories have great moments and interesting aspects to them.
Random Comments:
- If I had to choose a favorite novella, it's easily "Teddy Bears' Picnic." It's genuinely emotional to watch Bob's seemingly endless struggles, both as a soldier in the Indo-China War and as a veteran whose life story is repeatedly hijacked. Plus, the parts set during the war itself blend the first (and superior) half of Full Metal Jacket with the dark journey of Apocalypse Now.
- I'm fascinated by how the iconic imagery and figures of the cowboy, America's distinct mythology, are used to shape the American socialist revolution in "Ten Days That Shook the World." Waves of young men join the US Army following the death of Buffalo Bill in a German submarine attack, and Annie Oakley and Butch Cassidy are involved in the conflict. Makes me wonder what the Soviet equivalent was, if any.
- I don't think any althist writer other than Newman, a popular and prolific film critic, would take a little time to explore this alternate timeline's cinema. In the USSA, Cecil B. DeMille directed this world's version of Sergei Eisenstein's Man with a Movie Camera. Meanwhile, Russia has its own version of Hollywood films and characters - Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp (who appears as a character in "Tom Joad") is perfectly reimagined as "The Little Anarchist."
- You know this is the darkest timeline when Al Capone is president and Randall Flagg (Stephen King's recurring villain) is an influential religious leader. And who made Hannibal Lecter the head of the Department of Health?!
Althist purists may balk, and the question remains: why didn't Byrne and Newman try harder than substituting American socialist leader Eugene V. Debs for Russian socialist leader Vladimir Lenin? Well, perhaps they just felt that predicting an actual alternate timeline was futile. After all, there's no way they'd get every detail right no matter how much they research, and there's no way they could ever know if this is how it'd actually be. Or perhaps they thought it'd be more entertaining and interesting to do it this way. Althist writing for the sake of considering an alternate timeline is mostly an exercise in interpreting our own history. Why not just have some fun with it?
Speaking of which, they certainly seem to be enjoying themselves in the way that they reimagine historical figures in this timeline. Jack Kerouac and Howard Hughes are noncomformist drifters roaming the country by barnstormer, Isaac Asimov still lives in Russia and reads people's fortunes, and Alfred Hitchcock is a restaurant owner with a habit of poisoning past critics, among many others. Some of them are used specifically as replacements for the roles of real-life figures, much like how the world powers switch places - for example, Jean-Luc Godard is this world's Mao Zedong. Wikipedia has a list of them, though I didn't see Bill Clinton, listed as this world's Vladimir Putin, while reading the book.
More entertaining, at least for me, is the typical Newman trope of inserting fictional characters into the story. The main trigger of change in this timeline is that Teddy Roosevelt is assassinated and succeeded as president by Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles's film Citizen Kane), the epitome of American capitalist monsters; Tom Joad (John Steinbeck's Dust Bowl classic The Grapes of Wrath) is a folk hero of the proletariat; and Ensign Chekhov (yes, from Star Trek!) is the lover of a Russian princess, also among many others. The inclusion of such characters doesn't always work - the last section in particular includes JR Ewing, the Blues Brothers, and The Man with No Name in 1998 - but most of the time it makes things just a little more interesting.
All this is to say that the worldbuilding is quite excellent. Byrne and Newman are both experienced in writing althists, and it doesn't take long at all before they manage to immerse the reader in this familiar yet disturbing world. Better still, they do it without pounding it over our heads, meaning no one says, "Man, can you imagine if we hadn't gone through a communist revolution in 1917?" A lot of this is owed to Newman's writing style of interchanging paragraphs of exposition with paragraphs describing the actions of the moment, which seems adept for balancing worldbuilding with moving the plot along.
But none of this wouldn't work if we weren't invested in the protagonists, and thankfully, we are. It's exciting to see meek boy scout Charles Holdin Holley (known to most as Buddy Holly) stand up to his heroes, and by extension the communist government, in "In the Air." We can't help but cheer when Debs and his rebel forces overthrow the disgustingly decadent robber barons at the end of "Ten Days That Shook the World," even though we know that more villains will take their place. And the outcome of Melvin Purvis's hunt for a folk hero in "Tom Joad" is something to behold.
I'll readily admit that some of the novellas are weaker than others. "Citizen Ed" is humorous, but not quite as compelling as the adventure stories that precede it. "Abdication Street" shows what Russia is like in this timeline, but otherwise feels rather fluffy. And there's something strangely disjointed about "On the Road," the concluding story written specifically for this collection. It ends the book not with a bang, but with a whimper and some really weird imagery. But when the stories don't feel light and don't have trouble finding their tone, they're great.
It's a shame, then, that this book is so difficult to find. I've been looking (on and off) for this collection for years, and I couldn't even find it at my local libraries. Thankfully, an inter-library loan request gave me the gift to finally give it a try, and it's been worth the effort. Back in the USSA hits way more often than it doesn't, and even the lesser stories have great moments and interesting aspects to them.
Random Comments:
- If I had to choose a favorite novella, it's easily "Teddy Bears' Picnic." It's genuinely emotional to watch Bob's seemingly endless struggles, both as a soldier in the Indo-China War and as a veteran whose life story is repeatedly hijacked. Plus, the parts set during the war itself blend the first (and superior) half of Full Metal Jacket with the dark journey of Apocalypse Now.
- I'm fascinated by how the iconic imagery and figures of the cowboy, America's distinct mythology, are used to shape the American socialist revolution in "Ten Days That Shook the World." Waves of young men join the US Army following the death of Buffalo Bill in a German submarine attack, and Annie Oakley and Butch Cassidy are involved in the conflict. Makes me wonder what the Soviet equivalent was, if any.
- I don't think any althist writer other than Newman, a popular and prolific film critic, would take a little time to explore this alternate timeline's cinema. In the USSA, Cecil B. DeMille directed this world's version of Sergei Eisenstein's Man with a Movie Camera. Meanwhile, Russia has its own version of Hollywood films and characters - Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp (who appears as a character in "Tom Joad") is perfectly reimagined as "The Little Anarchist."
- You know this is the darkest timeline when Al Capone is president and Randall Flagg (Stephen King's recurring villain) is an influential religious leader. And who made Hannibal Lecter the head of the Department of Health?!
January 16, 2019
Normally, I think of 2-star ratings as bad. This book isn't bad. It's just a very mixed bag. I always struggle to review books of short stories, because some are good, but some are not. The first story in this book, In the Air, is sharply funny, ironic, clever, and laden with pop culture references that delighted me (picture it: L Ron Hubbard the flying ace). The third story, Tom Joad, is desperate and heartbreaking. And the fifth, Citizen Ed, is both disgusting and so irony-laden that it hurts (in a good way). Overall, the premise--a US that underwent a Eugene Debs-led socialist revolution, ruled by Al Capone, defrosted by Kurt Vonnegut--is clever. Some stories just worked better than others.
October 23, 2018
This is my second time reading this and I still think it rips. Newman applying his considerable skill to alternate history is incredibly fun. If there's any flaw in it I think it might be the over reliance in fictional characters as major political movers and shakers, but once you get past the Revolution it becomes less of an issue.
Reading this pretty soon after finishing OCTOBER did give me an interesting eye into it. Ironic that Newman's vision of a shattered USSA isn't too dissimilar from our current United States, and even the stuff that gets exacerbated by Capone's Stalinistic tactics (magnified by his mafioso tendencies, proving that even through a mirror darkly some things never change) aren't exactly things that went good for the capitalistic reality of the US.
Maybe the only slight on the book is that, lacking an actual vision into the rise of Capone as Party Leader ala Stalin, the idea of Capone as the USSA's Stalin feels more like a fun gimmick than one with any thought put into it.
Reading this pretty soon after finishing OCTOBER did give me an interesting eye into it. Ironic that Newman's vision of a shattered USSA isn't too dissimilar from our current United States, and even the stuff that gets exacerbated by Capone's Stalinistic tactics (magnified by his mafioso tendencies, proving that even through a mirror darkly some things never change) aren't exactly things that went good for the capitalistic reality of the US.
Maybe the only slight on the book is that, lacking an actual vision into the rise of Capone as Party Leader ala Stalin, the idea of Capone as the USSA's Stalin feels more like a fun gimmick than one with any thought put into it.
Read
July 18, 2019This is a group of stories based on the premise that during WWI a socialist revolution took place in the US (not in Russia) and that a corrupt, authoritarian Communist Party regine resulted. The stories aren't in chronological order, and some take place in capitalist England or Russia with little reference to the US.
If a writing workshop had asked participants to write stories in which the US, not Russia, had a 1917 revolution - and the stories should have a lot of name-dropping of famous people, and these should be personal stories - this book might be good products of that workshop.
However, I believe there were crucial differences in the cases of the US and Russia before and during WWI, so I don't take for granted that what happened in one case would have happened in the other. (The second story presents the events leading to the revolution, involving a very plutocratic president, which does reduce some of the differences in one area.) Granted, whichever country it was would have faced the issues of being the first such revolution - lacking the benefit of learning from earlier errors. I prefer alternative history that explores what makes different outcomes. That's not what most of the stories do. I don't think this was the author's intent.
The stories have famous gangsters, such as Al Capone, running the Communist government. This isn't explained.
The book may appeal more to readers who want personal stories in "other worlds."
If a writing workshop had asked participants to write stories in which the US, not Russia, had a 1917 revolution - and the stories should have a lot of name-dropping of famous people, and these should be personal stories - this book might be good products of that workshop.
However, I believe there were crucial differences in the cases of the US and Russia before and during WWI, so I don't take for granted that what happened in one case would have happened in the other. (The second story presents the events leading to the revolution, involving a very plutocratic president, which does reduce some of the differences in one area.) Granted, whichever country it was would have faced the issues of being the first such revolution - lacking the benefit of learning from earlier errors. I prefer alternative history that explores what makes different outcomes. That's not what most of the stories do. I don't think this was the author's intent.
The stories have famous gangsters, such as Al Capone, running the Communist government. This isn't explained.
The book may appeal more to readers who want personal stories in "other worlds."
August 23, 2022
The premise of the October Revolution happening on the other side of the pond is extremely exciting. All the name dropping and reversals are interesting, but the execution is kinda haphazard. Basically these are thematically and story wise totally different stories, that are somehow located in a shared alternate universe. The whole book feels more like an anthology based on an idea than as a single unified idea presented in a book form.
In the Air: 4/5
Ten Days That Shook The World: 2/5
Tom Joad: 3.5/5
Teddy Bears' Picnic: 4.5/5
Citizen Ed: 4.5/5
Abdication Street: 5/5
On the Road: 1.5/5
In the Air: 4/5
Ten Days That Shook The World: 2/5
Tom Joad: 3.5/5
Teddy Bears' Picnic: 4.5/5
Citizen Ed: 4.5/5
Abdication Street: 5/5
On the Road: 1.5/5
May 20, 2024
In one way, it would be unfair to review a book when I haven't finished it. In another way, having started it on three separate occasions over the years and never being able to finish it is a damn good review.
Despite my love for the 20th century and knowledge of this topic, this book was rather boring and has failed to keep me reading multiple times. The hook is extremely interesting, and I'm not sure if it's the writing or not that keeps me disengaged.
Despite my love for the 20th century and knowledge of this topic, this book was rather boring and has failed to keep me reading multiple times. The hook is extremely interesting, and I'm not sure if it's the writing or not that keeps me disengaged.
January 29, 2021
Back in the USSA is an interesting collection of stories across a timeline in which the USA fell to communists. All of the short stories interestingly have both real life and fictional characters woven into the narratives.
August 25, 2021
Somewhat interesting, but I don't think that alternative histories do it for me anymore. Or at least, not written like this.
It's taken a while, but I have finally realized that I am not a fan of works in this genre where same notable women and men from our own history still manage to become prominent figures, and usually in almost the exact same roles to boot. It's a creative choice that frankly has always struck me as just lazy more than anything else.
Also irritating is this odd mix and match where this alternative world is extremely different in some ways from own (for example, a Russia that never had a communist revolution but instead transitioned into a constitutional monarchy, a China that has descended into separate warring states), but weirdly identical in others (a Vietnam war that includes a communist north Vietnam and nominally democratic south, Hitler still apparently taking power and sparking off WWII).
I know that is just supposed to be a fun "what-if romp," but between all of aforementioned plus the inclusion of fictional characters like Rambo and Charles Foster Kane, it all just feels like a bit of a mess that's personally not my cup of tea.
It's taken a while, but I have finally realized that I am not a fan of works in this genre where same notable women and men from our own history still manage to become prominent figures, and usually in almost the exact same roles to boot. It's a creative choice that frankly has always struck me as just lazy more than anything else.
Also irritating is this odd mix and match where this alternative world is extremely different in some ways from own (for example, a Russia that never had a communist revolution but instead transitioned into a constitutional monarchy, a China that has descended into separate warring states), but weirdly identical in others (a Vietnam war that includes a communist north Vietnam and nominally democratic south, Hitler still apparently taking power and sparking off WWII).
I know that is just supposed to be a fun "what-if romp," but between all of aforementioned plus the inclusion of fictional characters like Rambo and Charles Foster Kane, it all just feels like a bit of a mess that's personally not my cup of tea.
August 16, 2014
The collection of short stories in Back in the USSA are very entertaining and do a great job of world building without really moving from the obvious plot lines. To some degree however, I feel like this is a missed opportunity of sorts. Certainly it is interesting to have very clear and identifiable events that occurred in both the real history and this fake one, but its hard to believe you could simply displace roles and transfer them to other nations like is done for much of the history in the book. It just seems like a missed opportunity.
May 26, 2008
One of my favorite alternate history books. This one is a series of short stories set in a world where the USA, not Russia, underwent a communist revolution. Byrne and Newman went a little overboard with trying to draw too many parallels (such as having Aleister Crowley stand in for Rasputin), but the sheer coolness of the stories make up for it. Where else are you gonna read a story about Ed Gein, People's Revolutionary Hero? :D
January 25, 2013
What if Eugene Debs had a successful revolution? How would the United States look? How would Ed Gein as a Marxist Party boss run his district. How would Russia look with Asminov as an astrologer? And Leonid Brezhnev as a democratically elected politician? And how would Kurt Vonnegut be as a president in a country on the verge of collapse; read and find out.
November 18, 2010
I love history and I love SF and I'm from ex-communist country and in love with this book. Alternative history or slipstream or whatever, idea is absolutely brilliant. Style need to be polished a bit, thou. Dialogues especially. Anyway, must read!
November 17, 2008
Very clever alternate history
March 31, 2020
Very interesting read. Amusing choices of real and fictional characters in a world where the USA turned communist in the early 20th century. Worth the looking for!
April 11, 2016
Ubi me u pojam, kao i Britansko pitanje. Mislim da neću ni da pokušavam sa Diogenovim klubom :/
June 2, 2017
Odlicna knjiga, budi mastu!
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