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Joe Steele
New York Times bestselling author Harry Turtledove’s thought-provoking forays into the past have produced such intriguing “what-if” novels as Ruled Britannia, Days of Infamy, and Opening Atlantis. Now “the maven of alternate history” (The San Diego Union-Tribune) envisions the election of a United States President whose political power will redefine what the nation is—and what it means to be American…. President Herbert Hoover has failed America. The Great Depression that rose from the ashes of the 1929 stock market crash still casts its dark shadow over the country. Despairing and desperate, the American people hope one of the potential Democratic candidates—New York governor Franklin D. Roosevelt and California congressman Joe Steele—can get the nation on the road to recovery. But fate snatches away one hope when a mansion fire claims the life of Roosevelt, leaving the Democratic party little choice but to nominate Steele, son of a Russian immigrant laborer who identifies more with the common man than with Washington D.C.’s wealthy power brokers. Achieving a landslide victory, President Joe Steele wastes no time pushing through Congress reforms that put citizens back to work. Anyone who gets in his way is getting in the way of America, and that includes the highest in the land. Joe Steele’s critics may believe the government is gaining too much control, but they tend to find themselves in work camps if they make too much noise about it. And most people welcome strong leadership, full employment, and an absence of complaining from the newspapers—especially as Hitler and Trotsky begin the kind of posturing that seems sure to drag America into war.
439 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 7, 2015
52 people are currently reading
489 people want to read
About the author
Harry Turtledove
562 books1,949 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 125 reviews
January 13, 2016
I'm not saying it was bad, just a little implausible. Also, some parts feel like they were recycled from other books. 3.5 stars
January 30, 2016
What if Joseph Stalin was a Democrat? Imagine that the Man of Steel’s parents had emigrated to the United States before he was born, and that instead of rising to power through a Bolshevik revolution, he was voted into high office. In Joe Steele, Stalin wins the 1932 Democratic presidential nomination after his rival FDR perishes in a mysterious fire; after trouncing Hoover in the general elections, he immediately adds the United States to the 1930s’ diverse list of totalitarian hellholes, complete with labor camps and knocks at midnight from men in black. The sheer magic of being Joseph Stalin is irresistible…and inexplicable.
Joe Steele is a strange creature; for most of the book, history unfolds as it did in our own time, despite the fact that Leon Trotsky reigns in Russia instead of good ol’ uncle Joe. In the United States, Stalin uses the desperation of the Depression to justify four-year programs that are a staggering departure from American governance. He opens his hundred days by nationalizing the banks, and from the public is uttered not a peep. When the Supreme Court stirs itself to point out that there are no Constitutional grounds whatsoever for the president to take over the banks, Stalin has his new buddy J. Edgar Hoover arrest those justices deemed obstructive. Who exactly has the authority to issue an arrest warrant for the Supreme Court? The staggering implausibility of this is matched only by the fact that all four immediately confess to conspiring with Hitler to undermine the president’s glorious revival of the American enterprise. Stalin’s ability to force people to do exactly what he wants continues throughout the book, and it is never once believable. He is as charismatic as a potato, and while one man can be blackmailed, how can an entire Congress? And there are precious few consequences for these actions; aside from the people being thrown into labor camps to cut down trees or dig ditches, the Depression and the War go on as history ordained. This, despite the people like Douglas MacArthur who are lost in military purges. Men of consequence are being introduced and felled, but history's course is largely unchanged. Stalin even runs against the same exact people that FDR did. Only in the last hundred pages does history take an interesting turn when Stalin is forced to invade the Home Islands of Japan. Otherwise, it’s WW2 as usual with the President being really mean.
Turtledove's books are character driven, allowing readers to soak in an alternative history as the viewpoints live it. Unfortunately for Joe Steele, there are all of three characters of importance here: a reporter turned political prisoner, the reporter's presidential speechwriter brother, who seems to drink bourbon every time he is introduced, and Joe himself. The problem with Joe is that he doesn't make sense. He has a personal vendetta against Leon Trotsky for....no reason at all. Joe was born in California; he has as much reason to loathe Trotsky as I do the mayor of Tokyo. His politics are limited to "let me do stuff": he despises Communists despite running to help the downtrodden working masses against the evil rich, but makes no reference to any other worldview. Turtledove never even mentions political movements that Joe could have had connections to -- no wobblies, no Grange, no nothin'. The only explanation for his being here, the only explanation for him getting away with anything at all, is that Turtledove really wants an American Stalin. But...Joe Steele isn't. He has no discernible ties to the American culture he is introduced as a member of. He's Stalin with a different name, albeit with slightly moderated sociopathy. Quoting founding fathers and hating Soviets doesn't make a man American, and suspension of disbelief never gets off the ground here. .
This may have made for a diverting short story, but it hasn't scaled up well. Harry can coax out an authentically American tyranny; he did it somewhat in the Timeline-191 series. Size shouldn't a problem: Joe Steele is larger than The Plot Against America and It Can't Happen Here, both of which introduced a fascist USA concept. Unless the reader is supremely interested in Stalin, this book falls flat: there is no agonizing but sophisticated remolding of the American politics to fit a tyrannical vision, and what significant departures there are don't arrive until late. Even then, there's no weight to them, because our characters are after-the-fact observers only. It doesn't help matters that there are entire scenes in which nothing at all happens: in one, Charlie walks into Joe's office, congratulates him on reelection, and then wanders away. Turtledove is as he is, though, a reliable producer of diverting premises and partially-assembled stories. So what if Joe Stalin were president? He might not kill twenty million people. He might just settle for executing the few thousand who annoyed him. And that, dear readers, is about as far as it goes.
Joe Steele is a strange creature; for most of the book, history unfolds as it did in our own time, despite the fact that Leon Trotsky reigns in Russia instead of good ol’ uncle Joe. In the United States, Stalin uses the desperation of the Depression to justify four-year programs that are a staggering departure from American governance. He opens his hundred days by nationalizing the banks, and from the public is uttered not a peep. When the Supreme Court stirs itself to point out that there are no Constitutional grounds whatsoever for the president to take over the banks, Stalin has his new buddy J. Edgar Hoover arrest those justices deemed obstructive. Who exactly has the authority to issue an arrest warrant for the Supreme Court? The staggering implausibility of this is matched only by the fact that all four immediately confess to conspiring with Hitler to undermine the president’s glorious revival of the American enterprise. Stalin’s ability to force people to do exactly what he wants continues throughout the book, and it is never once believable. He is as charismatic as a potato, and while one man can be blackmailed, how can an entire Congress? And there are precious few consequences for these actions; aside from the people being thrown into labor camps to cut down trees or dig ditches, the Depression and the War go on as history ordained. This, despite the people like Douglas MacArthur who are lost in military purges. Men of consequence are being introduced and felled, but history's course is largely unchanged. Stalin even runs against the same exact people that FDR did. Only in the last hundred pages does history take an interesting turn when Stalin is forced to invade the Home Islands of Japan. Otherwise, it’s WW2 as usual with the President being really mean.
Turtledove's books are character driven, allowing readers to soak in an alternative history as the viewpoints live it. Unfortunately for Joe Steele, there are all of three characters of importance here: a reporter turned political prisoner, the reporter's presidential speechwriter brother, who seems to drink bourbon every time he is introduced, and Joe himself. The problem with Joe is that he doesn't make sense. He has a personal vendetta against Leon Trotsky for....no reason at all. Joe was born in California; he has as much reason to loathe Trotsky as I do the mayor of Tokyo. His politics are limited to "let me do stuff": he despises Communists despite running to help the downtrodden working masses against the evil rich, but makes no reference to any other worldview. Turtledove never even mentions political movements that Joe could have had connections to -- no wobblies, no Grange, no nothin'. The only explanation for his being here, the only explanation for him getting away with anything at all, is that Turtledove really wants an American Stalin. But...Joe Steele isn't. He has no discernible ties to the American culture he is introduced as a member of. He's Stalin with a different name, albeit with slightly moderated sociopathy. Quoting founding fathers and hating Soviets doesn't make a man American, and suspension of disbelief never gets off the ground here. .
This may have made for a diverting short story, but it hasn't scaled up well. Harry can coax out an authentically American tyranny; he did it somewhat in the Timeline-191 series. Size shouldn't a problem: Joe Steele is larger than The Plot Against America and It Can't Happen Here, both of which introduced a fascist USA concept. Unless the reader is supremely interested in Stalin, this book falls flat: there is no agonizing but sophisticated remolding of the American politics to fit a tyrannical vision, and what significant departures there are don't arrive until late. Even then, there's no weight to them, because our characters are after-the-fact observers only. It doesn't help matters that there are entire scenes in which nothing at all happens: in one, Charlie walks into Joe's office, congratulates him on reelection, and then wanders away. Turtledove is as he is, though, a reliable producer of diverting premises and partially-assembled stories. So what if Joe Stalin were president? He might not kill twenty million people. He might just settle for executing the few thousand who annoyed him. And that, dear readers, is about as far as it goes.
February 9, 2015
its a good book, enjoyable and up to Mr Turtledove normal high standards well thought,a very interesting alternative history novel.
free from netgalley
free from netgalley
November 24, 2018
Maybe I've been reading less alternate history than I should have for the last few years, but even a decade ago I would've never associated "how the mighty have fallen" with Harry Turtledove. (Trantor Falls for one, which in my opinion is still one of the best things written about the Foundation series not by Asimov himself.)
...And then we have Joe Steel. I know writing a critique based on plausibility is going to sound odd when the subject is alternate history, but up until now I've always felt that was one of Turtledove's strengths. His books may be implausible, but if you accept the premise of the divergence-, the actual events of the books given the premise are actually quite believable, the characters act like their historical counterparts, the nods to actual history actually make sense - I'm using actually a lot, aren't I?
Unfortunately for Joe Steele, when the premise is Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin is now fictional US president Joe Steele, I wish Turtledove would've taken more care in (re)casting the numerous figures from American history as their Russian counterparts under Stalin. As a premise it sounds quite good, but in execution, sure J Edgar Hoover might be believable as some sort of Yagoda/Yezhov/Beria amalgam, but so many other events are so uniquely Russian that importing them wholesale into this fictionalized version of American history just feels wrong - out of character, glossed over, and wrong.
Which brings me to my next point - unfortunately, Turtledove doesn't do enough to differentiate his Steele character from Roosevelt (besides killing off the latter in a fire and occasionally giving the former Stalin's ruthless personality traits). All of Roosevelt's historical accomplishments are ascribed to Steele, but while I get that's part of the point of this book, the other point of this book is to fictionalize Stalin in the White House, and I don't think that's successful if Steele's deeds and accomplishments are indistinguishable from Roosevelt's. Come to think of it, none of the characters seem in character, Steele acts too much like Roosevelt and everyone else acts too little like their historical American counterparts.
The only reason I managed to finish this was because Turtledove, as ever, has not only an eminent command of history, but also knows exactly how to make it readable. There's an enigma around Steele thanks to a narrative style that's like Citizen Kane (a reporter on the outside looking in on the subject), but unlike Kane the Steele character's not interesting enough to actually follow. Even that death scene modeled off of Stalin's death felt ... odd ... and after this entire whirlwind through the Great Depression and the Second World War, Steele never leaves the sort of imprint on Turtledove's fictional world like those his two real world inspirations did on ours.
In the end, Joe Steele is, unfortunately, one of the Turtledove's lesser American presidents (and certainly no Jake Featherston). Overall, I'm disappointed.
...And then we have Joe Steel. I know writing a critique based on plausibility is going to sound odd when the subject is alternate history, but up until now I've always felt that was one of Turtledove's strengths. His books may be implausible, but if you accept the premise of the divergence-, the actual events of the books given the premise are actually quite believable, the characters act like their historical counterparts, the nods to actual history actually make sense - I'm using actually a lot, aren't I?
Unfortunately for Joe Steele, when the premise is Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin is now fictional US president Joe Steele, I wish Turtledove would've taken more care in (re)casting the numerous figures from American history as their Russian counterparts under Stalin. As a premise it sounds quite good, but in execution, sure J Edgar Hoover might be believable as some sort of Yagoda/Yezhov/Beria amalgam, but so many other events are so uniquely Russian that importing them wholesale into this fictionalized version of American history just feels wrong - out of character, glossed over, and wrong.
Which brings me to my next point - unfortunately, Turtledove doesn't do enough to differentiate his Steele character from Roosevelt (besides killing off the latter in a fire and occasionally giving the former Stalin's ruthless personality traits). All of Roosevelt's historical accomplishments are ascribed to Steele, but while I get that's part of the point of this book, the other point of this book is to fictionalize Stalin in the White House, and I don't think that's successful if Steele's deeds and accomplishments are indistinguishable from Roosevelt's. Come to think of it, none of the characters seem in character, Steele acts too much like Roosevelt and everyone else acts too little like their historical American counterparts.
The only reason I managed to finish this was because Turtledove, as ever, has not only an eminent command of history, but also knows exactly how to make it readable. There's an enigma around Steele thanks to a narrative style that's like Citizen Kane (a reporter on the outside looking in on the subject), but unlike Kane the Steele character's not interesting enough to actually follow. Even that death scene modeled off of Stalin's death felt ... odd ... and after this entire whirlwind through the Great Depression and the Second World War, Steele never leaves the sort of imprint on Turtledove's fictional world like those his two real world inspirations did on ours.
In the end, Joe Steele is, unfortunately, one of the Turtledove's lesser American presidents (and certainly no Jake Featherston). Overall, I'm disappointed.
March 7, 2016
Another alternate history in the Harry Turtledove line, although this one is a standalone story. Point of departure #1 is Josef Vissarionovich Djugashvili being born to emigre parents in America rather than in the Russian Empire, hence, he is Joe Steele rather than Joseph Stalin. POD #2 is FDR's mysterious death in a governor's-mansion fire just before the 1932 elections, clearing the way for Steele to become the 32nd President of the United States.
I've read a number of Turtledove's alt-history books, notably the entire Timeline-191 series (How Few Remain and its sequels). This one seems more paint-by-the-numbers, both in how this Steele follows the Stalin playbook -- purge party opposition, check, purge the U.S. military, check, fight back against surprise Axis attack after 1941, check -- and his entourage, Mikoian (Mikoyan), Kagan (Kaganovich), Scriabin the Hammer (Molotov), which stretches alt-history credulity. It is a clever touch, though, to see how well J. Edgar Hoover serves as a secret-police chief. Not up to Turtledove's usual standard, but entertaining enough.
I've read a number of Turtledove's alt-history books, notably the entire Timeline-191 series (How Few Remain and its sequels). This one seems more paint-by-the-numbers, both in how this Steele follows the Stalin playbook -- purge party opposition, check, purge the U.S. military, check, fight back against surprise Axis attack after 1941, check -- and his entourage, Mikoian (Mikoyan), Kagan (Kaganovich), Scriabin the Hammer (Molotov), which stretches alt-history credulity. It is a clever touch, though, to see how well J. Edgar Hoover serves as a secret-police chief. Not up to Turtledove's usual standard, but entertaining enough.
January 18, 2016
In this revisionist history of the years immediately preceding and following World War II, Joseph Stalin has been born in the USA under the name of Joe Steele, is elected president (possibly via murder) and commands his bloody, dictatorial reign across America.
I believe all citizens of the USA should read this terrifying book, but insert the name "DONALD TRUMP" for Joe Steele. Trump seems like a person capable of disregarding all the checks and balances that stabilize our government, plus he'd willfully disobey laws and court orders to complete a similar hijacking of our country's freedoms, civil rights and honor.
I believe all citizens of the USA should read this terrifying book, but insert the name "DONALD TRUMP" for Joe Steele. Trump seems like a person capable of disregarding all the checks and balances that stabilize our government, plus he'd willfully disobey laws and court orders to complete a similar hijacking of our country's freedoms, civil rights and honor.
April 14, 2015
Over the past twenty years or so Harry Turtledove has established himself as a major creator of alternate history novels. Joe Steele is his latest: a tale of politicians dating from 1930’s America until the 1950’s.
The titular character, Joe Steele, is an imagined one for the novel, although being born as Joseph Dzugashvili to new immigrants from Russia, Steele has (no doubt deliberate) links to our own real-world Joseph Stalin. The book begins as Steele is Franklin D. Roosevelt’s main rival for the 1932 Democratic Presidential nomination.
Of course, this being a Harry Turtledove novel, it’s not long before things diverge from what really happened. The big ‘what-if?’ this time around is “What would happen to America if FDR didn’t get to be President and a Stalin-esque leader got there in his place?” Whereas in our history Roosevelt defeats Herbert Hoover and becomes President in 1932, to die in 1945, here he dies in 1932 (in rather mysterious circumstances). As a result, man-of-the-people Joe Steele captures the 1932 Democratic presidential nomination and goes on to defeat Hoover to become President. Whereas Roosevelt led the USA through the Great Depression and into the Second World War, Steele’s leadership style is rather different – some would say Stalinesque – and brings Communist-style totalitarianism to the USA.
As is fairly typical in Turtledove novels, the world spanning events are shown to us through the viewpoints of a couple of key characters. In Joe Steele the plot is mainly told through the lives of two brothers, both of whom are reporters but as the book progresses follow different paths. Mike Sullivan writes for the New York Times, whilst Charlie Sullivan is in Washington. Both follow the career of Joe Steele, but whereas Charlie finds himself working with the Steele administration, Mike is a voice against the President.
The book pretty much shows the rise and rise of this working class President. With the help of his minders, Stas Mikoian, Lazar Kagan and Vince Scriabin (nicknamed The Hammer), as well as J. Edgar Hoover, who Steele makes the head of the GBI (Government Bureau of Investigation), Joe sets about consolidating his position and getting America back on its feet after the Great Depression. He instigates a series of Four Year Plans, ends unemployment, nationalises the banks and purges the capitalists and members of the Supreme Court that dare to stand in his way. “He’s putting the people back to work, and he’s putting the rich bastards in their place. You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs.” we are told at one point.
Whilst Europe sees the rise of Adolf Hitler, and Leon Trotsky controls the Soviet Union, Steele, said at one point to be “the American Trotsky”, tightens his grip on the American homeland by introducing labour camps for his opponents (thus echoing Siberian gulags.) Unsurprisingly, Mike is arrested as ‘a wrecker’, sentenced for writing articles against the President that are not in the nation’s best interests and is exiled to Montana to do hard labour for at least five years and up to ten. Despite his efforts, Charlie cannot do anything to help. Thinking that he could do more to reduce the issues by working within rather than outside the government, Charlie actually ends up working for Steele as a Presidential scriptwriter at a time when things begin to get hectic for Steele and the US government.
When World War II begins in Europe, some parts of our plot are recognisable whilst others are subtly different. As in our history, Steele initially refuses to join the conflict, though he does finance Britain against the Nazi oppressors. Japan attacks the United States in 1941, and Steele then takes his country to war against the Axis powers, funding Russia, a country first seen as a hated enemy by Steele. Similar to our timeline, the D-Day invasion at Normandy takes place in 1944 when, like Roosevelt in our time, Steele fears the possibility of the USSR, now run by Trotsky, becoming dominant in Europe if the Western powers fail to take a stand.
In 1945 Nazi Germany is defeated, and focus then turns to the Pacific War, which, unlike ours, proceeds until December, 1945. The United States and the USSR jointly invade and defeat Japan, which is then divided into North and South Japan with a demilitarisation zone (echoing North and South Korea in our history here.)
The ending of the Second World War and the defeat of Nazi Germany means that we have the beginnings of the Atomic Age. Steele learns of Germany’s aborted atomic bomb project, and seeing this as a useful weapon for the US to have, attempts to initiate an American programme. On hearing of Einstein’s reluctance to give the President the means of creating an atom bomb, fearing for world safety, Steele’s response is swift and immediate – Einstein is killed for withholding information that could’ve shortened the war and given America a global advantage. A Navy Captain named Rickover is given the task to build an American bomb, whilst in the meantime, the USSR also begins its own atom bomb project with the aid of other captured scientists.
As the world continues to readjust after the Second World War, North Japan attacks South Japan which leads to both the US and the USSR dropping atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Sendai and Nagano, setting the stage for a Cold War in the 1950s, with Chiang’s Nationalists of China gaining support from Steele against Mao Tse Tung’s Red Army.
The story ends with Steele in his sixth term of office, nearly seventy. The ending is rather shocking and yet somewhat appropriate.
One of the things I enjoy most about a Turtledove novel is his ability to take an idea, and then run with it to see where it goes. As such, I suspect that the plot summary above will either persuade you to want to read the novel or not. If such events leave you cold, then this book may not be the one for you. It may also be an issue that running with such ideas means that the book takes time to build, although its progress towards the end is relentless. But if you love alternate histories, you will want to see how Harry develops his subtly different version of history into a logical plot.
Other than that, the reader pretty much knows what they’re going to get here and gets it. If you’ve tried Harry before, his style here is no different, being the usual reportage tone delivered through characters that we soon learn to identify. The places mentioned are also part of the travelogue – from the USA to Europe, to Russia and then Japan – the reader gets a real idea of what impact Steele has upon the world. Some may find that in places there is a little too much detail – if you’re not a fan of political stories or politics in general then there’s a lot here not-to-like. There’s a lot of “tell, don’t show” which admittedly may not be for everyone, and in places does lead to the same point being made a few chapters apart, acting as some kind of unnecessary recap.
The characterisation is also typical Turtledove – there’s not too much depth here, as it’s the widescreen breadth you’re after. A whole host of people – some real, others fictional – pop up in varying amounts to propel the plot from one incident to another. It helps if you can recognise aspects of the historical events, but it’s not essential.
What is as good, as ever, is the way that Harry is able to project a realistic feel for the time the book is set in. This is done by combining the fictional elements with our reality most convincingly. Even when different to our own, the events that happen in the book are well explained and therefore logical in their outcome.
Joe Steele is a large book, and it is therefore a credit to Harry that, on finishing it, I wanted to see where things go next as we seem to enter a Cold War scenario. I’m not entirely sure that this one will make many new converts, but if you like playing with ‘what-if’s’ in your fiction, then Joe Steele offers you a lot to think about. In the end, I loved it.
The titular character, Joe Steele, is an imagined one for the novel, although being born as Joseph Dzugashvili to new immigrants from Russia, Steele has (no doubt deliberate) links to our own real-world Joseph Stalin. The book begins as Steele is Franklin D. Roosevelt’s main rival for the 1932 Democratic Presidential nomination.
Of course, this being a Harry Turtledove novel, it’s not long before things diverge from what really happened. The big ‘what-if?’ this time around is “What would happen to America if FDR didn’t get to be President and a Stalin-esque leader got there in his place?” Whereas in our history Roosevelt defeats Herbert Hoover and becomes President in 1932, to die in 1945, here he dies in 1932 (in rather mysterious circumstances). As a result, man-of-the-people Joe Steele captures the 1932 Democratic presidential nomination and goes on to defeat Hoover to become President. Whereas Roosevelt led the USA through the Great Depression and into the Second World War, Steele’s leadership style is rather different – some would say Stalinesque – and brings Communist-style totalitarianism to the USA.
As is fairly typical in Turtledove novels, the world spanning events are shown to us through the viewpoints of a couple of key characters. In Joe Steele the plot is mainly told through the lives of two brothers, both of whom are reporters but as the book progresses follow different paths. Mike Sullivan writes for the New York Times, whilst Charlie Sullivan is in Washington. Both follow the career of Joe Steele, but whereas Charlie finds himself working with the Steele administration, Mike is a voice against the President.
The book pretty much shows the rise and rise of this working class President. With the help of his minders, Stas Mikoian, Lazar Kagan and Vince Scriabin (nicknamed The Hammer), as well as J. Edgar Hoover, who Steele makes the head of the GBI (Government Bureau of Investigation), Joe sets about consolidating his position and getting America back on its feet after the Great Depression. He instigates a series of Four Year Plans, ends unemployment, nationalises the banks and purges the capitalists and members of the Supreme Court that dare to stand in his way. “He’s putting the people back to work, and he’s putting the rich bastards in their place. You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs.” we are told at one point.
Whilst Europe sees the rise of Adolf Hitler, and Leon Trotsky controls the Soviet Union, Steele, said at one point to be “the American Trotsky”, tightens his grip on the American homeland by introducing labour camps for his opponents (thus echoing Siberian gulags.) Unsurprisingly, Mike is arrested as ‘a wrecker’, sentenced for writing articles against the President that are not in the nation’s best interests and is exiled to Montana to do hard labour for at least five years and up to ten. Despite his efforts, Charlie cannot do anything to help. Thinking that he could do more to reduce the issues by working within rather than outside the government, Charlie actually ends up working for Steele as a Presidential scriptwriter at a time when things begin to get hectic for Steele and the US government.
When World War II begins in Europe, some parts of our plot are recognisable whilst others are subtly different. As in our history, Steele initially refuses to join the conflict, though he does finance Britain against the Nazi oppressors. Japan attacks the United States in 1941, and Steele then takes his country to war against the Axis powers, funding Russia, a country first seen as a hated enemy by Steele. Similar to our timeline, the D-Day invasion at Normandy takes place in 1944 when, like Roosevelt in our time, Steele fears the possibility of the USSR, now run by Trotsky, becoming dominant in Europe if the Western powers fail to take a stand.
In 1945 Nazi Germany is defeated, and focus then turns to the Pacific War, which, unlike ours, proceeds until December, 1945. The United States and the USSR jointly invade and defeat Japan, which is then divided into North and South Japan with a demilitarisation zone (echoing North and South Korea in our history here.)
The ending of the Second World War and the defeat of Nazi Germany means that we have the beginnings of the Atomic Age. Steele learns of Germany’s aborted atomic bomb project, and seeing this as a useful weapon for the US to have, attempts to initiate an American programme. On hearing of Einstein’s reluctance to give the President the means of creating an atom bomb, fearing for world safety, Steele’s response is swift and immediate – Einstein is killed for withholding information that could’ve shortened the war and given America a global advantage. A Navy Captain named Rickover is given the task to build an American bomb, whilst in the meantime, the USSR also begins its own atom bomb project with the aid of other captured scientists.
As the world continues to readjust after the Second World War, North Japan attacks South Japan which leads to both the US and the USSR dropping atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Sendai and Nagano, setting the stage for a Cold War in the 1950s, with Chiang’s Nationalists of China gaining support from Steele against Mao Tse Tung’s Red Army.
The story ends with Steele in his sixth term of office, nearly seventy. The ending is rather shocking and yet somewhat appropriate.
One of the things I enjoy most about a Turtledove novel is his ability to take an idea, and then run with it to see where it goes. As such, I suspect that the plot summary above will either persuade you to want to read the novel or not. If such events leave you cold, then this book may not be the one for you. It may also be an issue that running with such ideas means that the book takes time to build, although its progress towards the end is relentless. But if you love alternate histories, you will want to see how Harry develops his subtly different version of history into a logical plot.
Other than that, the reader pretty much knows what they’re going to get here and gets it. If you’ve tried Harry before, his style here is no different, being the usual reportage tone delivered through characters that we soon learn to identify. The places mentioned are also part of the travelogue – from the USA to Europe, to Russia and then Japan – the reader gets a real idea of what impact Steele has upon the world. Some may find that in places there is a little too much detail – if you’re not a fan of political stories or politics in general then there’s a lot here not-to-like. There’s a lot of “tell, don’t show” which admittedly may not be for everyone, and in places does lead to the same point being made a few chapters apart, acting as some kind of unnecessary recap.
The characterisation is also typical Turtledove – there’s not too much depth here, as it’s the widescreen breadth you’re after. A whole host of people – some real, others fictional – pop up in varying amounts to propel the plot from one incident to another. It helps if you can recognise aspects of the historical events, but it’s not essential.
What is as good, as ever, is the way that Harry is able to project a realistic feel for the time the book is set in. This is done by combining the fictional elements with our reality most convincingly. Even when different to our own, the events that happen in the book are well explained and therefore logical in their outcome.
Joe Steele is a large book, and it is therefore a credit to Harry that, on finishing it, I wanted to see where things go next as we seem to enter a Cold War scenario. I’m not entirely sure that this one will make many new converts, but if you like playing with ‘what-if’s’ in your fiction, then Joe Steele offers you a lot to think about. In the end, I loved it.
February 3, 2015
I was a fan of Turtledove for years. I really liked everything I read up to the Atlantis trilogy. After that, I felt like he was recycling the same stories, with the same words, such as "He wanted to tell him he was wrong, but he couldn't." That's only in this book one time.
This is a really terrific book. Not just because it's "Joseph Stalin runs the US for 20 years." That would be some fine alternative history right there. But what made this book really sing for me was that it seemed like it really happened, sort of. I enjoyed comparing the actions of Joe Steele to the actions of FDR.
Grant you, FDR didn't create labor camps and send his enemies to them. He didn't line people up and have them shot for trumped-up charges of treason. That's the kind of thing Stalin would have done, and that FDR and every other president was probably tempted to do once in a while.
Economists say that democracy works great until the economy goes south, and then they yield power to dictators. The Romans did. And in a sense, the US did. FDR was president for life. He won 4 terms when no previous president had more than 2. What I found comparable in Turtledove's story was the ways that a man who wasn't making himself personally rich or feeding some mental illness could do as an executive in charge of the US.
You say it could never happen in real life? Maybe not. Then again, maybe it happened, and Turtledove wrote a novel that described some of the things that really happened, and some of the things that didn't. But without question, there were people who believed just as strongly as those in this book that the man was too powerful. There were others who believed that he was "A Father to Us All."
You don't have to see it my way. This is a terrific alternate history novel by the master of the genre. You can enjoy it for whatever reasons that you like. Me, I felt like I was in a time machine.
This is a really terrific book. Not just because it's "Joseph Stalin runs the US for 20 years." That would be some fine alternative history right there. But what made this book really sing for me was that it seemed like it really happened, sort of. I enjoyed comparing the actions of Joe Steele to the actions of FDR.
Grant you, FDR didn't create labor camps and send his enemies to them. He didn't line people up and have them shot for trumped-up charges of treason. That's the kind of thing Stalin would have done, and that FDR and every other president was probably tempted to do once in a while.
Economists say that democracy works great until the economy goes south, and then they yield power to dictators. The Romans did. And in a sense, the US did. FDR was president for life. He won 4 terms when no previous president had more than 2. What I found comparable in Turtledove's story was the ways that a man who wasn't making himself personally rich or feeding some mental illness could do as an executive in charge of the US.
You say it could never happen in real life? Maybe not. Then again, maybe it happened, and Turtledove wrote a novel that described some of the things that really happened, and some of the things that didn't. But without question, there were people who believed just as strongly as those in this book that the man was too powerful. There were others who believed that he was "A Father to Us All."
You don't have to see it my way. This is a terrific alternate history novel by the master of the genre. You can enjoy it for whatever reasons that you like. Me, I felt like I was in a time machine.
March 10, 2016
I’ve been a Turtledove fan for about thirty years. Some of the WWI & WWII alternate stories seem to get bogged down in the day to day affairs of the Army personnel. A lot of Turtledove seems to be a rehashing of older plots and tropes. The constant foxhole tropes and the Turtledove Formulaic Doctrine, have left me to consider that the things that appealed to me three decades ago are waning in recent years. I’ve found myself enjoying Turtledove’s non-war stories more so than the war stories. It could be that I’m just warred out.
Although Joe Steel does have a foxhole war in the last 25% or so, war isn’t the primary focus of this story. I would place Joe Steel on par with the Supervolcano series, and the first two books in the Atlantis series.
No one could ever accuse Turtledove of not doing the research for an alternate history. Joe Steel is no exception. Everything that happens in the story is plausible within the confines of this speculative piece. Turtledove is still the master of alternate history.
Joe Steel is touted as a stand-alone, and I can see another installment, especially with the trick ending. I’d read a sequel to Joe Steel, and as always, I’d read just bout any fiction Harry Turtledove puts out. As far as storytelling, Joe Steel doesn’t wow me the way Guns of the South or Opening Atlantis did. It’s a solid four-star read, especially for people who enjoy alternate history, or are already Turtledove fans.
Although Joe Steel does have a foxhole war in the last 25% or so, war isn’t the primary focus of this story. I would place Joe Steel on par with the Supervolcano series, and the first two books in the Atlantis series.
No one could ever accuse Turtledove of not doing the research for an alternate history. Joe Steel is no exception. Everything that happens in the story is plausible within the confines of this speculative piece. Turtledove is still the master of alternate history.
Joe Steel is touted as a stand-alone, and I can see another installment, especially with the trick ending. I’d read a sequel to Joe Steel, and as always, I’d read just bout any fiction Harry Turtledove puts out. As far as storytelling, Joe Steel doesn’t wow me the way Guns of the South or Opening Atlantis did. It’s a solid four-star read, especially for people who enjoy alternate history, or are already Turtledove fans.
August 11, 2020
Wow. Alternate history of 1930s-1950s including a Donald Trump-like president. Shows the long term effects on the world stage-he “rules” for 25 years-and on the lives of 2 brothers who started adult life as reporters. Painful and prescient
September 24, 2018
This is a well-written, engrossing alternate history novel about how the lives of the Sullivan brothers were affected by the election of Joe Steele rather than FDR to the presidency.
"Joe Steele" is a page-turner - cross-cutting between the fates of the two brothers keeps the reader interested in what will happen next. It also provides an endlessly interesting look into the way things once were; prior to the age of computers, things were different, work was more of a grind, but things were also similar. The book covers about 20 years of US and world history, starting with how Steele dealt with the Depression, WW2 and the post-war years as well.
The characterization is solid, as is the plot construction - the reader will be drawn into the finely detailed, and frightening world the author has created and certainly wonder if such a fascistic outcome to a presidential election couldn't happen here. Readers should brace themselves for the unexpected, shocking ending.
Here are some quotes:
""'They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety,'" Mike [Sullivan] said. Ben Franklin always sounded better than some dumb cliche."
"A lot of men who pulled stunt like that [detaining political opponents in work camps in the Rockies] would have looked down the barrel of the impeachment gun. Joe Steele had an enormous majority in both houses of Congress. He'd swept to reelection less than a year before."
"Hitler kept screaming about the Sudetenland. As far as Charlie [Sullivan] could see, Hitler screamed about everything, like a three-year-old throwing a tantrum. Nobody'd paddled his fanny for him when he *was* a three-year-old, so he still thought he could get away with that kind of nonsense."
"One thing was plain: [Mike had] ... underestimated how ruthless the man could be. He'd taken it for granted that the First Amendment and the whole idea of freedom of the press shielded him from anything a politician might do. He'd never dreamt he -- or the country -- would run into a politician who cared no more for the First Amendment than he did for the rest of the Constitution."
"For a little while after the war ended, Charlie had hoped real peace would take hold in the world. People had felt the same way after the First World War. They'd called it the War to End War. And they'd been all the more bitterly disappointed when history didn't come to an end with the Treaty of Versailles."
"[Joe Steele] ... went on to talk about rooting out Red spies and traitors at home, and about the way the economy was booming. Charlie listened with reluctant but real admiration."
"People always liked to believe they were the masters of their souls and the captains of their fate [Charlie mused, considered alternatives as to how Joe Steele might have turned out if his folks hadn't emigrated to the US from Russia]. But just because you liked to believe it didn't' make it true. It seemed at least as likely that people bounced at random off the paddles of God's pinball machine, and that they could as easily have bounced some other way."
"[Charlie's wife Esther to Charlie:] "Well, you're right [that the US is now the richest, strongest country in the world]. I can't argue. But we used to be the freest country in the world. I don't think we are now. Do you? Is what we got worth what we've lost?""
"...Charlie...: "'For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?'""
"[Mike had] ...seen that soldiers often prided themselves on how ignorant they were, and distrusted anybody who knew anything that didn't have to do with killing. The only worse group for that he could think of were Jeebies ["General Bureau of Investigation" (GBI) agents, agency led by J. Edgar Hoover]."
""You don't get freedom. You have to take it," [Mike's detention camp friend] John Dennison replied. "I wonder if we know how any more.""
"[Charlie:] "Had Joe Steele ever found himself in this [impeachment] predicament, the Jeebies would have cleaned out the House. But Joe Steele had intimidated Congress too much for it to rise against him. The new President didn't."
"Joe Steele" is a page-turner - cross-cutting between the fates of the two brothers keeps the reader interested in what will happen next. It also provides an endlessly interesting look into the way things once were; prior to the age of computers, things were different, work was more of a grind, but things were also similar. The book covers about 20 years of US and world history, starting with how Steele dealt with the Depression, WW2 and the post-war years as well.
The characterization is solid, as is the plot construction - the reader will be drawn into the finely detailed, and frightening world the author has created and certainly wonder if such a fascistic outcome to a presidential election couldn't happen here. Readers should brace themselves for the unexpected, shocking ending.
Here are some quotes:
""'They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety,'" Mike [Sullivan] said. Ben Franklin always sounded better than some dumb cliche."
"A lot of men who pulled stunt like that [detaining political opponents in work camps in the Rockies] would have looked down the barrel of the impeachment gun. Joe Steele had an enormous majority in both houses of Congress. He'd swept to reelection less than a year before."
"Hitler kept screaming about the Sudetenland. As far as Charlie [Sullivan] could see, Hitler screamed about everything, like a three-year-old throwing a tantrum. Nobody'd paddled his fanny for him when he *was* a three-year-old, so he still thought he could get away with that kind of nonsense."
"One thing was plain: [Mike had] ... underestimated how ruthless the man could be. He'd taken it for granted that the First Amendment and the whole idea of freedom of the press shielded him from anything a politician might do. He'd never dreamt he -- or the country -- would run into a politician who cared no more for the First Amendment than he did for the rest of the Constitution."
"For a little while after the war ended, Charlie had hoped real peace would take hold in the world. People had felt the same way after the First World War. They'd called it the War to End War. And they'd been all the more bitterly disappointed when history didn't come to an end with the Treaty of Versailles."
"[Joe Steele] ... went on to talk about rooting out Red spies and traitors at home, and about the way the economy was booming. Charlie listened with reluctant but real admiration."
"People always liked to believe they were the masters of their souls and the captains of their fate [Charlie mused, considered alternatives as to how Joe Steele might have turned out if his folks hadn't emigrated to the US from Russia]. But just because you liked to believe it didn't' make it true. It seemed at least as likely that people bounced at random off the paddles of God's pinball machine, and that they could as easily have bounced some other way."
"[Charlie's wife Esther to Charlie:] "Well, you're right [that the US is now the richest, strongest country in the world]. I can't argue. But we used to be the freest country in the world. I don't think we are now. Do you? Is what we got worth what we've lost?""
"...Charlie...: "'For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?'""
"[Mike had] ...seen that soldiers often prided themselves on how ignorant they were, and distrusted anybody who knew anything that didn't have to do with killing. The only worse group for that he could think of were Jeebies ["General Bureau of Investigation" (GBI) agents, agency led by J. Edgar Hoover]."
""You don't get freedom. You have to take it," [Mike's detention camp friend] John Dennison replied. "I wonder if we know how any more.""
"[Charlie:] "Had Joe Steele ever found himself in this [impeachment] predicament, the Jeebies would have cleaned out the House. But Joe Steele had intimidated Congress too much for it to rise against him. The new President didn't."
August 12, 2020
One of the few Turtledove books I'd recommend to non-nerds. Not very many focal characters, interesting parallels, and a historical background we all more or less know, making it easier for an impatient reader to follow.
February 25, 2015
Originally posted at: http://alternatehistoryweeklyupdate.b...
When I said I was going to review Harry Turtledove's Joe Steele (out on April 7), I never expected the reaction the news would receive. Alternate historians were really interested with this book. So I'm happy to announce that I have finished the novel and I am ready to reveal my thoughts on it.
A little background: Joe Steele is actually an expanded novel based on the short story of the same name. The story itself was inspired by a lyric from Janis Ian's "God & The FBI" that said "Stalin was a Democrat". Well Turtledove took that line and rolled with it when he created this alternate history. In this world, Stalin's parents immigrated to America shortly before he was born (along with the parents of several of his Soviet cronies coincidentally). Going by the name Joe Steele, he peruses a career in politics and manages to earn the Democratic nomination for president in 1932 after his challenger, Franklin D. Roosevelt, dies under mysterious circumstances. With vast amounts of popular support from Americans desperate to get out of the Great Depression, Steele sets about to reshape America into his own image, ignoring the Constitution and punishing anyone who gets in his way.
Steele's presidency, from his nomination to his death, is told from the point of view of two reporter brothers: Mike and Charlie Sullivan. Both react differently to the police state America is becoming. Charlie, for example, keeps his head down and rationalizes the extreme tactics Steele uses as being an unpleasant, but necessary burden if they have any chance of setting America right again. Mike, on the other hand, does not see any difference between Steele and other dictators like Hitler or Trotsky (who succeeded Lenin after his death in this timeline). Their choices set each brother down a different paths as Mike is thrown into a prison camp in Montana, while Charlie winds up as a speech writer for Steele himself. This style of story-telling means that Joe Steele does not have a plot per se. We essentially just see a slice of this alternate history from the view of these brothers, which is fine by me, but people who enjoy the more traditional story format may find this book wanting.
The plausibility of this alternate history is on the soft side. As Sam McDonald pointed out in his review of the short story, it is rather odd that the different experiences Stalin would live through growing up in America had zero effect on his personality, but then it wouldn't be an interesting story if Steele's entire political career revolved around him being a soft-spoken, but long-serving Congressman from California. Since this is a Turtledove novel, there is also a lot of paralleling going on through this history with Steele making some of the same choices that FDR made in OTL. In fact some of those moments made me a tad uncomfortable because it seemed as if Turtledove was comparing Stalin to FDR. While it has recently been in vogue to criticize FDR's presidency, even I think it is unfair to compare him to someone who is considered by many to be worse than Hitler.
Of course, I could just be reading too much into Joe Steele by bringing present-day politics into this review. You do get to see some major changes to history near the end of the book with Japan being divided between a communist north and capitalist south and a very odd omission of Israel which makes me think Steele was not as sympathetic to Zionism as Truman was in OTL (in fact several Jewish scientists are purged by Steele as traitors, so that could explain why no one seems interested in the Middle East). Without spoiling anything, I also feel that democracy and America are a lot worse off at the start of this alternate Cold War than in OTL. I would not be surprised if the United States actually loses in the long run if Turtledove ever decides to revisit this timeline.
Nitpicking aside, on the whole Joe Steele was an entertaining read. Turtledove took the Day of the Jackboot trope, which is often dominated by right-wing dictators, and gave us a Supreme Leader of the leftist variety. Although the book did drag in the middle, it still was a lot less flabbier than the novels in his many long-running series and the ending had a powerful emotional chord to it. Turtledove fans and people who enjoy dystopias will certainly want to pick up Joe Steele.
When I said I was going to review Harry Turtledove's Joe Steele (out on April 7), I never expected the reaction the news would receive. Alternate historians were really interested with this book. So I'm happy to announce that I have finished the novel and I am ready to reveal my thoughts on it.
A little background: Joe Steele is actually an expanded novel based on the short story of the same name. The story itself was inspired by a lyric from Janis Ian's "God & The FBI" that said "Stalin was a Democrat". Well Turtledove took that line and rolled with it when he created this alternate history. In this world, Stalin's parents immigrated to America shortly before he was born (along with the parents of several of his Soviet cronies coincidentally). Going by the name Joe Steele, he peruses a career in politics and manages to earn the Democratic nomination for president in 1932 after his challenger, Franklin D. Roosevelt, dies under mysterious circumstances. With vast amounts of popular support from Americans desperate to get out of the Great Depression, Steele sets about to reshape America into his own image, ignoring the Constitution and punishing anyone who gets in his way.
Steele's presidency, from his nomination to his death, is told from the point of view of two reporter brothers: Mike and Charlie Sullivan. Both react differently to the police state America is becoming. Charlie, for example, keeps his head down and rationalizes the extreme tactics Steele uses as being an unpleasant, but necessary burden if they have any chance of setting America right again. Mike, on the other hand, does not see any difference between Steele and other dictators like Hitler or Trotsky (who succeeded Lenin after his death in this timeline). Their choices set each brother down a different paths as Mike is thrown into a prison camp in Montana, while Charlie winds up as a speech writer for Steele himself. This style of story-telling means that Joe Steele does not have a plot per se. We essentially just see a slice of this alternate history from the view of these brothers, which is fine by me, but people who enjoy the more traditional story format may find this book wanting.
The plausibility of this alternate history is on the soft side. As Sam McDonald pointed out in his review of the short story, it is rather odd that the different experiences Stalin would live through growing up in America had zero effect on his personality, but then it wouldn't be an interesting story if Steele's entire political career revolved around him being a soft-spoken, but long-serving Congressman from California. Since this is a Turtledove novel, there is also a lot of paralleling going on through this history with Steele making some of the same choices that FDR made in OTL. In fact some of those moments made me a tad uncomfortable because it seemed as if Turtledove was comparing Stalin to FDR. While it has recently been in vogue to criticize FDR's presidency, even I think it is unfair to compare him to someone who is considered by many to be worse than Hitler.
Of course, I could just be reading too much into Joe Steele by bringing present-day politics into this review. You do get to see some major changes to history near the end of the book with Japan being divided between a communist north and capitalist south and a very odd omission of Israel which makes me think Steele was not as sympathetic to Zionism as Truman was in OTL (in fact several Jewish scientists are purged by Steele as traitors, so that could explain why no one seems interested in the Middle East). Without spoiling anything, I also feel that democracy and America are a lot worse off at the start of this alternate Cold War than in OTL. I would not be surprised if the United States actually loses in the long run if Turtledove ever decides to revisit this timeline.
Nitpicking aside, on the whole Joe Steele was an entertaining read. Turtledove took the Day of the Jackboot trope, which is often dominated by right-wing dictators, and gave us a Supreme Leader of the leftist variety. Although the book did drag in the middle, it still was a lot less flabbier than the novels in his many long-running series and the ending had a powerful emotional chord to it. Turtledove fans and people who enjoy dystopias will certainly want to pick up Joe Steele.
December 1, 2016
The alternate history genre can be a fascinating one at times. It allows us glimpses into how history and our world could have been very different under just the slightest change of circumstances. Harry Turtledove has bee acknowledged as the master of the genre and his 2015 offering Joe Steele caught my eye ahead of its release last year. Some eighteen months or so after its release, I have finally found the time to read it and the result was an interesting "what if?" to say the least.
The basic premise of Joe Steele is simple enough to grasp. Imagine that the parents of Joseph Stalin had come to the U.S before he was born, thus allowing him a rise to power not during the rise of communism in Russia but here during the Great Depression. It's a rise to power that, as the opening chapter of the novel presents, take him right into the Oval Office. If you can accept the overall premise than you are in for a ride as Turtledove takes the reader on a tour through an America under Stalin (or should I say Steele?) that takes in two decades and enough real history to create a compelling narrative.
To do so, Turtledove centers the narrative not on Steele but on two men caught up in events. They are the Sullivan brothers, Charlie and Mike, who start off in 1932 as journalists before their paths wildly diverge as a result of Steele becoming President. One ends up working in the Steele White House while the other ends up on the wrong side of the man. Both Sullivan's are interesting figures, men who find themselves caught up in extraordinary situations and come out in very different ways. Yet their reactions are quite believable and they help to make the events all the more plausible.
In fact, there's a strong sense of credibility to the events of the novel most of the time. Looking at what happened with the rise of totalitarianism in Europe during the same period, it's always amazed me that something like that didn't happen here. Turtledove shows how circumstances might have allowed someone like Steele to not only rise to power but conduct the business of government in the way the novel presents. These include a "four year plan", work camps, the removal of many in opposition to him, and how both the Second World War and an equivalent conflict to the Korean War play out. If anything, I'm surprised that Turtledove didn't go further at times such as including the supposed 1934 plot to overthrow FDR (a compelling story whose truth has been largely obscured by the mists of time). What happens at the novel's end also feels nicely credible as well, suggesting that once things go wrong they can never be set back on course again. All of which makes for compelling reading to be sure.
Though the novel is not a perfect one. Despite how credible much of the events are (especially regarding the U.S domestic front) some of the portrayal of the international scene is less convincing especially with the Soviet Union. One doubts events would have played out quite the way they do here if who Turtledove has leading the Soviet Union had been leading it. Not only that but the overall credibility is admittedly stretched a bit by the fact that not only Stalin apparently but a number of his cronies as well all seem to have been born in the U.S at around the same time. It's something that does undermine the novel somewhat but if you can accept the overall basic premise that that is not likely to be much of an issue.
There is also an issue of pacing. Despite the fact that the novel is effectively an expansion of an earlier short story (inspired by a line in Janis Ian's song God and the FBI about how "Stalin was a Democrat") the novel feels like a very episodic affair. Years sometime pass in the space of a chapter or an entire war is fought in a handful of pages. While the novel flows nicely, it feels oddly lacking in depth at times which makes me wonder what the original short story (which one assumes was a fraction of the 438 pages of the novel) must have read like.
Yet despite those minor niggles, Joe Steele reads very well. Though there are occasional issues of credibility,Turtledove creates a compelling narrative that imagines what America might have been like had Stalin been born on in our country and was able to occupy the highest office in the land. It's a tale of what might have been and one that it suggests might happen still.
The basic premise of Joe Steele is simple enough to grasp. Imagine that the parents of Joseph Stalin had come to the U.S before he was born, thus allowing him a rise to power not during the rise of communism in Russia but here during the Great Depression. It's a rise to power that, as the opening chapter of the novel presents, take him right into the Oval Office. If you can accept the overall premise than you are in for a ride as Turtledove takes the reader on a tour through an America under Stalin (or should I say Steele?) that takes in two decades and enough real history to create a compelling narrative.
To do so, Turtledove centers the narrative not on Steele but on two men caught up in events. They are the Sullivan brothers, Charlie and Mike, who start off in 1932 as journalists before their paths wildly diverge as a result of Steele becoming President. One ends up working in the Steele White House while the other ends up on the wrong side of the man. Both Sullivan's are interesting figures, men who find themselves caught up in extraordinary situations and come out in very different ways. Yet their reactions are quite believable and they help to make the events all the more plausible.
In fact, there's a strong sense of credibility to the events of the novel most of the time. Looking at what happened with the rise of totalitarianism in Europe during the same period, it's always amazed me that something like that didn't happen here. Turtledove shows how circumstances might have allowed someone like Steele to not only rise to power but conduct the business of government in the way the novel presents. These include a "four year plan", work camps, the removal of many in opposition to him, and how both the Second World War and an equivalent conflict to the Korean War play out. If anything, I'm surprised that Turtledove didn't go further at times such as including the supposed 1934 plot to overthrow FDR (a compelling story whose truth has been largely obscured by the mists of time). What happens at the novel's end also feels nicely credible as well, suggesting that once things go wrong they can never be set back on course again. All of which makes for compelling reading to be sure.
Though the novel is not a perfect one. Despite how credible much of the events are (especially regarding the U.S domestic front) some of the portrayal of the international scene is less convincing especially with the Soviet Union. One doubts events would have played out quite the way they do here if who Turtledove has leading the Soviet Union had been leading it. Not only that but the overall credibility is admittedly stretched a bit by the fact that not only Stalin apparently but a number of his cronies as well all seem to have been born in the U.S at around the same time. It's something that does undermine the novel somewhat but if you can accept the overall basic premise that that is not likely to be much of an issue.
There is also an issue of pacing. Despite the fact that the novel is effectively an expansion of an earlier short story (inspired by a line in Janis Ian's song God and the FBI about how "Stalin was a Democrat") the novel feels like a very episodic affair. Years sometime pass in the space of a chapter or an entire war is fought in a handful of pages. While the novel flows nicely, it feels oddly lacking in depth at times which makes me wonder what the original short story (which one assumes was a fraction of the 438 pages of the novel) must have read like.
Yet despite those minor niggles, Joe Steele reads very well. Though there are occasional issues of credibility,Turtledove creates a compelling narrative that imagines what America might have been like had Stalin been born on in our country and was able to occupy the highest office in the land. It's a tale of what might have been and one that it suggests might happen still.
February 16, 2025
When I read this a while back, before Trump was re-elected President, i thought it was unrealistic. Now that Trump is President again, I see I was wrong. In fact, it’s eerily similar to what is happening now with all the employees being fired whose job is to protect Americans from illegal activities, including the attempt to fire the federal elections commission chair. So it seems the author has an accurate understanding of criminal nature.
March 30, 2015
I can’t say I liked or disliked Joe Steele. I can say I found it was a depressive read but one that struck an uncomfortable cord. This could happen today. We could take that slippery slope that leads to a country we don’t want. I have to wonder if that is the reaction Turtledove wanted. Read at your own risk.
December 20, 2015
Liked it enough to finish. Some slow parts and some more interesting parts. But now I can say that I've read some Harry Turtledove.
June 12, 2016
A cautionary tale on just how easy it is for our liberty to slip away.
August 28, 2017
What if living in the United States in the 1930s were not much different than living in Russia?
What if FDR hadn’t been alive to lead us through World War II?
What if Leon Trotsky had led Russia through World War II instead of Stalin?
What if another country developed the atomic bomb before the United States?
What if you could see just how easily our entire form of government could change and just how quickly the change could be implemented?
This was my first foray into the genre of alternate history, and while it seems to be an entertaining style of writing, it also makes you think. It gives you a greater appreciation for the things you take for granted. And it serves to highlight the little things that we otherwise may overlook that have such a strong influence on how things came to be the way they are today.
The story of Joe Steele begins with the 1932 Democratic National Convention. Franklin D. Roosevelt, then the governor of New York, dies in a mysterious house fire at the governor’s mansion, just hours before securing the party’s nomination for the Presidential campaign. Joe Steele is the top contender. On the heels of the Great Depression, it is widely held that the winner of the ’32 Democratic ticket would be a shoo-in against Herbert Hoover.
Having the benefit of hindsight (which comes in uniquely handy throughout this particular style of book), we see very quickly that Joe Steele has a significantly different form of leadership in mind for the United States than FDR would have administered. He begins his term in office in a very similar fashion to Roosevelt, enacting several laws in an attempt to bring the country back to prosperity, but his approach is significantly different. Many people, to this day, disagree with some of FDR’s policies that were implemented during that time, and one has to wonder how much of our country’s success in that era was due to the escalation of World War II more so than any of President Roosevelt’s policies. Though we can never know with absolute certainty what the answer to that question is, it is interesting to ponder, especially through a book such as this.
Interestingly, most of the war (in this book) through ’45 ends up about the same as the actual war did. Just as FDR continued to be re-elected, Joe Steele continued to serve as President, though for much longer, from 1932-1952. The way Germany surrenders in the war is not significantly different. The way Japan surrenders, however, is markedly different, as the war ends without any use of an atomic bomb. Because of President Joe Steele’s administration, many key leaders are tried for “treason” and executed by firing squad (including key Supreme Court justices). General MacArthur and Albert Einstein are among those who met an untimely death in this book. And although the senseless convictions of these key figures did not seem to have much of an impact on the war portrayed in this book, they had a very significant impact in the years immediately following the way. Secret police (GBI instead of FBI) and labor camps also changed the landscape of the country, both figuratively and literally. J. Edgar Hoover is a major player in this book, with Joe Steele utilizing him in heavy-handed ways where FDR and/or Harry S. Truman kept him in check. Harry S. Truman is not even mentioned in this book. Another striking concept to ponder in the aftermath of Joe Steele’s administration.
The author of this book, Harry Turtledove, also does an outstanding job of blending World War II with the Cold War. One of the themes of the story is the precarious relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union throughout the war and in the years afterward. He portrays this as two (power) hungry animals each with teeth clenched on the other’s throat, neither daring to let go (with equal parts fear of the uncertainty of what would happen next and the refusal to give up the promise of world domination).
There’s not much more to be said without giving away key points to the plot, but don’t dismiss this book because you can’t / don’t take alternate history seriously. Boring, it is not. If anything, this book will stir up within you an appreciation for freedoms that we take for granted; it will give you a charge to hold your government accountable at every level; and it will intrigue you to study history more to find out what really happened, giving you a greater understanding of how we got to where we are today.
What if FDR hadn’t been alive to lead us through World War II?
What if Leon Trotsky had led Russia through World War II instead of Stalin?
What if another country developed the atomic bomb before the United States?
What if you could see just how easily our entire form of government could change and just how quickly the change could be implemented?
This was my first foray into the genre of alternate history, and while it seems to be an entertaining style of writing, it also makes you think. It gives you a greater appreciation for the things you take for granted. And it serves to highlight the little things that we otherwise may overlook that have such a strong influence on how things came to be the way they are today.
The story of Joe Steele begins with the 1932 Democratic National Convention. Franklin D. Roosevelt, then the governor of New York, dies in a mysterious house fire at the governor’s mansion, just hours before securing the party’s nomination for the Presidential campaign. Joe Steele is the top contender. On the heels of the Great Depression, it is widely held that the winner of the ’32 Democratic ticket would be a shoo-in against Herbert Hoover.
Having the benefit of hindsight (which comes in uniquely handy throughout this particular style of book), we see very quickly that Joe Steele has a significantly different form of leadership in mind for the United States than FDR would have administered. He begins his term in office in a very similar fashion to Roosevelt, enacting several laws in an attempt to bring the country back to prosperity, but his approach is significantly different. Many people, to this day, disagree with some of FDR’s policies that were implemented during that time, and one has to wonder how much of our country’s success in that era was due to the escalation of World War II more so than any of President Roosevelt’s policies. Though we can never know with absolute certainty what the answer to that question is, it is interesting to ponder, especially through a book such as this.
Interestingly, most of the war (in this book) through ’45 ends up about the same as the actual war did. Just as FDR continued to be re-elected, Joe Steele continued to serve as President, though for much longer, from 1932-1952. The way Germany surrenders in the war is not significantly different. The way Japan surrenders, however, is markedly different, as the war ends without any use of an atomic bomb. Because of President Joe Steele’s administration, many key leaders are tried for “treason” and executed by firing squad (including key Supreme Court justices). General MacArthur and Albert Einstein are among those who met an untimely death in this book. And although the senseless convictions of these key figures did not seem to have much of an impact on the war portrayed in this book, they had a very significant impact in the years immediately following the way. Secret police (GBI instead of FBI) and labor camps also changed the landscape of the country, both figuratively and literally. J. Edgar Hoover is a major player in this book, with Joe Steele utilizing him in heavy-handed ways where FDR and/or Harry S. Truman kept him in check. Harry S. Truman is not even mentioned in this book. Another striking concept to ponder in the aftermath of Joe Steele’s administration.
The author of this book, Harry Turtledove, also does an outstanding job of blending World War II with the Cold War. One of the themes of the story is the precarious relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union throughout the war and in the years afterward. He portrays this as two (power) hungry animals each with teeth clenched on the other’s throat, neither daring to let go (with equal parts fear of the uncertainty of what would happen next and the refusal to give up the promise of world domination).
There’s not much more to be said without giving away key points to the plot, but don’t dismiss this book because you can’t / don’t take alternate history seriously. Boring, it is not. If anything, this book will stir up within you an appreciation for freedoms that we take for granted; it will give you a charge to hold your government accountable at every level; and it will intrigue you to study history more to find out what really happened, giving you a greater understanding of how we got to where we are today.
February 22, 2021
This novel is an expansion of an earlier short story of the same title. I've never read the short version, but I'm wondering if some of the problems with the novel version come from the expansion. Sometimes giving a story more space ends up making the flaws more glaring, especially flaws in worldbuilding. For instance, would the improbability of the families of three of Stalin's cronies also immigrating to the US be so obvious in a story that can be read in a single sitting, as opposed to something long enough you read it a few chapters at a time, and have time to think about them before you can come to the next portion?
As is the case in many of Turtledove's works of alternate history, the story is told entirely through the eyes of ordinary people whose lives are changed by the central figures or events of the story. In this case, it is two newspapermen, brothers Mike and Charlie Sullivan. When the novel begins, Mike is working for the New York Post, while Charlie is working for the Associated Press in the Washington DC bureau. We meet Charlie first, as he goes to Chicago to cover the 1932 Democratic National Convention as they prepare to nominate the Democratic candidate for President, and happens to overhear one of Joe Steele's cronies making a disturbing phone call. Meanwhile, Mike's gone up to Albany to cover a party at the Governor's Mansion, and sees the entire place go up in flames at incredible speed, killing the wheelchair-bound FDR -- and thus clinching Joe Steele's nomination.
Both of them have reason to believe some kind of dirty deeds are going on, but neither have hard proof. When Charlie returns to the nation's capital, he's slowly but surely drawn into the new President's orbit, ultimately leaving the AP to be the White House Press Secretary. Meanwhile, Mike begins to tally up all the questionable and then downright unconstitutional things the new President is doing, and writes enough sharp criticisms that he is arrested and sent off to a labor encampment in Montana to cut down lodgepole pines.
It's interesting to see how this alternate Stalin's ruthlessness and brutality are moderated by the American system -- and where it fails to hold him back. And the ending is particularly disturbing, suggesting that if the civic norms of a republic are suppressed for too long, it may be difficult or impossible to recover the old way, simply because a whole new generation has come to adulthood without seeing civic society in operation.
As is the case in many of Turtledove's works of alternate history, the story is told entirely through the eyes of ordinary people whose lives are changed by the central figures or events of the story. In this case, it is two newspapermen, brothers Mike and Charlie Sullivan. When the novel begins, Mike is working for the New York Post, while Charlie is working for the Associated Press in the Washington DC bureau. We meet Charlie first, as he goes to Chicago to cover the 1932 Democratic National Convention as they prepare to nominate the Democratic candidate for President, and happens to overhear one of Joe Steele's cronies making a disturbing phone call. Meanwhile, Mike's gone up to Albany to cover a party at the Governor's Mansion, and sees the entire place go up in flames at incredible speed, killing the wheelchair-bound FDR -- and thus clinching Joe Steele's nomination.
Both of them have reason to believe some kind of dirty deeds are going on, but neither have hard proof. When Charlie returns to the nation's capital, he's slowly but surely drawn into the new President's orbit, ultimately leaving the AP to be the White House Press Secretary. Meanwhile, Mike begins to tally up all the questionable and then downright unconstitutional things the new President is doing, and writes enough sharp criticisms that he is arrested and sent off to a labor encampment in Montana to cut down lodgepole pines.
It's interesting to see how this alternate Stalin's ruthlessness and brutality are moderated by the American system -- and where it fails to hold him back. And the ending is particularly disturbing, suggesting that if the civic norms of a republic are suppressed for too long, it may be difficult or impossible to recover the old way, simply because a whole new generation has come to adulthood without seeing civic society in operation.
September 24, 2017
Grim, grim book.
The backstory to this book is that in December 1878, a pregnant woman named Ekaterina Djughashvili from Russian Georgia got on a ship to America, went into labor in New York harbor, and gave birth right there on the dock to a son she named Joseph. So in the book's timeline, the man we knew as Joseph Stalin instead becomes Joe Steele, congressman from Fresno and eventual President of the United States.
The book differs from most Turtledove novels, in that there are only two point-of-view characters, two journalist brothers named Mike and Charlie Sullivan. We meet Charlie at the 1932 Democratic convention when FDR is fighting for the nomination against Joe Steele. When Roosevelt dies in a suspicious fire, Steele is nominated and wins handily against Herbert Hoover. Charlie writes neutral or somewhat praiseworthy articles about Steele (after all, he gets people back to work), while Mike, based in New York, investigates the suspicious fire that killed FDR. Mike's articles become so inflammatory that he's picked up by Government Bureau of Investigation agents and sent to a forced labor camp with other "Wreckers" -- people who have been accused of trying to undermine Steele's economic recovery efforts. Charlie, meanwhile, gets a job as Steele's speechwriter!
The rest of the story flows as you would expect. Steele is shocked -- shocked! -- to discover that four Supreme Court justices have conspired with Trotsky in the Soviet Union to betray America. He has the justices tried before a military tribunal and executed. With the Supreme Court out of the way (and Congress naturally cowed) Steele becomes a de facto dictator, stifling all dissent, crushing all opposition. He sees the US through the depression, World War II, the war between Soviet-dominated North Japan and US-friendly South Japan, and the resulting Cold War. When Steele dies after five terms in 1953, a mad scramble for power leaves democracy in worse shape than ever before. The last line of the novel is especially chilling.
The backstory to this book is that in December 1878, a pregnant woman named Ekaterina Djughashvili from Russian Georgia got on a ship to America, went into labor in New York harbor, and gave birth right there on the dock to a son she named Joseph. So in the book's timeline, the man we knew as Joseph Stalin instead becomes Joe Steele, congressman from Fresno and eventual President of the United States.
The book differs from most Turtledove novels, in that there are only two point-of-view characters, two journalist brothers named Mike and Charlie Sullivan. We meet Charlie at the 1932 Democratic convention when FDR is fighting for the nomination against Joe Steele. When Roosevelt dies in a suspicious fire, Steele is nominated and wins handily against Herbert Hoover. Charlie writes neutral or somewhat praiseworthy articles about Steele (after all, he gets people back to work), while Mike, based in New York, investigates the suspicious fire that killed FDR. Mike's articles become so inflammatory that he's picked up by Government Bureau of Investigation agents and sent to a forced labor camp with other "Wreckers" -- people who have been accused of trying to undermine Steele's economic recovery efforts. Charlie, meanwhile, gets a job as Steele's speechwriter!
The rest of the story flows as you would expect. Steele is shocked -- shocked! -- to discover that four Supreme Court justices have conspired with Trotsky in the Soviet Union to betray America. He has the justices tried before a military tribunal and executed. With the Supreme Court out of the way (and Congress naturally cowed) Steele becomes a de facto dictator, stifling all dissent, crushing all opposition. He sees the US through the depression, World War II, the war between Soviet-dominated North Japan and US-friendly South Japan, and the resulting Cold War. When Steele dies after five terms in 1953, a mad scramble for power leaves democracy in worse shape than ever before. The last line of the novel is especially chilling.
September 12, 2022
One book I really enjoyed reading around a month ago was the alternate history novel Joe Steele by Harry Turtledove. It takes place in Depression-era America and follows the next president, Joe Steele, as he navigates America his way. This book is really good because of how realistic and dark it is. For example, the book is based off of if ‘Stalin was a Democrat’, therefore Joe Steele acts like Stalin, like putting people in work camps if they disobey him. While this is dark and can be scary, it makes me want to read more to see the people’s reaction to what happens later, and in the end, defines what it truly means to be an American (that’s the tagline of the book, actually). Another reason why it’s so good is because it takes the reader through what he does during WWII and the aftermath of it through two different perspectives, one who likes and another who hates Joe Steele. This is awesome for two reasons: one, it helps us understand both perspectives and how desperate people were for change during the Depression. However, it also helps the reader understand why people were so cautious of him. There is one scene in the book where Winston Churchill compares America to Soviet Russia at the time because in the end, both were similar in a way. Overall, this book is a good read for people who like historical fiction and alternate history. The book dives into people’s reasoning for why they do the things they do, along with other events that didn’t happen in real life. I’d give this book 5 stars.
February 17, 2020
What if Stalin was elected President of the United States in 1932?
That's basically the premise of this alternate history novel. In this timeline, "Joe Steele" was born to Russian immigrant parents in California and after the tragic death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, "Steele" is elected President of the United States in 1932.
I don't know much about Stalin's rule of the Soviet Union, but from what little I do know about Stalin and about FDR's presidency, Joe Steele basically enacts FDR's domestic policies with the additional spice of historical Stalin's policies, including purges of the Supreme Court, Congress, and the military and labor camps for dissident "wreckers." The FBI, in this timeline, is created and under the control of J. Edgar Hoover, but is known as the GBI (Government Bureau of Investigation).
I haven't read a lot of Turtledove's work, but some things (namely, certain indirect references to profanity and other 'adult content') seem common in his books that I have read. Also, this was published in 2015, but it's weird reading this novel about an authoritarian US President not following American political norms right now, in early 2020, shortly after our current American president has become the third to be impeached.
That's basically the premise of this alternate history novel. In this timeline, "Joe Steele" was born to Russian immigrant parents in California and after the tragic death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, "Steele" is elected President of the United States in 1932.
I don't know much about Stalin's rule of the Soviet Union, but from what little I do know about Stalin and about FDR's presidency, Joe Steele basically enacts FDR's domestic policies with the additional spice of historical Stalin's policies, including purges of the Supreme Court, Congress, and the military and labor camps for dissident "wreckers." The FBI, in this timeline, is created and under the control of J. Edgar Hoover, but is known as the GBI (Government Bureau of Investigation).
I haven't read a lot of Turtledove's work, but some things (namely, certain indirect references to profanity and other 'adult content') seem common in his books that I have read. Also, this was published in 2015, but it's weird reading this novel about an authoritarian US President not following American political norms right now, in early 2020, shortly after our current American president has become the third to be impeached.
February 1, 2021
This a a stand alone historical fiction book by Turtledove. Unbeknownst to me while reading it, the title character Joe Steele = Josef Stalin. I don’t think that’s a spoiler, it actually helps explain some things that go on in the book.
I was deciding between a 4 or a 5 on this one, but ultimately when I describe scene after scene to my wife, I must be enjoying it, therefore it gets 5 stars.
Ironically, this was written before our 2020 political turmoil but boy oh boy does this show you how quickly that slippery slope is, how much worse it could have been, and hopefully not where we are going.
The historical parts of the book are interesting, mainly because I haven’t read too much on FDR’s beginning. The slight twists and turns of history make for an interesting read. As usual Turtledove uses ordinary people put into extraordinary situations. This book focuses on two brothers, which I think made it easier to follow than some of the other Turtledove books, that focus on more characters.
Without spoilers I would call this one a must read for political junkies, for WW2 junkies or for anyone living in 2021 who wants to see what could have been or might be. Honesty this book is a bit scary, not in a Stephen King or Joe Hill way but in a holy crap this is way too close to home kind of way. And the ending, holy crap times a hundred!!! See why I gave it 5 stars!!!!
I was deciding between a 4 or a 5 on this one, but ultimately when I describe scene after scene to my wife, I must be enjoying it, therefore it gets 5 stars.
Ironically, this was written before our 2020 political turmoil but boy oh boy does this show you how quickly that slippery slope is, how much worse it could have been, and hopefully not where we are going.
The historical parts of the book are interesting, mainly because I haven’t read too much on FDR’s beginning. The slight twists and turns of history make for an interesting read. As usual Turtledove uses ordinary people put into extraordinary situations. This book focuses on two brothers, which I think made it easier to follow than some of the other Turtledove books, that focus on more characters.
Without spoilers I would call this one a must read for political junkies, for WW2 junkies or for anyone living in 2021 who wants to see what could have been or might be. Honesty this book is a bit scary, not in a Stephen King or Joe Hill way but in a holy crap this is way too close to home kind of way. And the ending, holy crap times a hundred!!! See why I gave it 5 stars!!!!
June 14, 2017
Wow. Even as a huge Turtledove fan, I'll admit that his last few series have left me unimpressed. But Joe Steele, based on an earlier short story of the same name, is a stunner.
The departure point is simple. Joseph Stalin's parents emigrated to the United States before he was born, making him a US citizen. Adopting the name Joe Steele, he becomes a US Congressman from California, and eventually challenges Franklin Roosevelt for the 1932 Democratic nomination for the Presidency. When FDR is killed in a mysterious fire, things begin to go sideways for the US.
The book is told from the perspective of two brothers, both reporters. Charlie Sullivan is a stringer for the Associated Press working out of Washington, while his brother David is a writer for the New York Post. Charlie initially supports Steele, eventually becoming a White House speech writer, while his brother is hauled away on a charge of "wrecking" and sent to a forced labor camp.
We follow the two through WWII and the brief war between North and South Japan. The ending is not happy. It's downright chilling, but perfect for the novel's setting.
Strong recommend this book to any fan of alternate history of 20th century history.
The departure point is simple. Joseph Stalin's parents emigrated to the United States before he was born, making him a US citizen. Adopting the name Joe Steele, he becomes a US Congressman from California, and eventually challenges Franklin Roosevelt for the 1932 Democratic nomination for the Presidency. When FDR is killed in a mysterious fire, things begin to go sideways for the US.
The book is told from the perspective of two brothers, both reporters. Charlie Sullivan is a stringer for the Associated Press working out of Washington, while his brother David is a writer for the New York Post. Charlie initially supports Steele, eventually becoming a White House speech writer, while his brother is hauled away on a charge of "wrecking" and sent to a forced labor camp.
We follow the two through WWII and the brief war between North and South Japan. The ending is not happy. It's downright chilling, but perfect for the novel's setting.
Strong recommend this book to any fan of alternate history of 20th century history.
August 31, 2017
The basic premise of the book is scary enough to make a good horror movie...what if the man we know as Josef Stalin had been born in the U.S., and was elected President in 1932? The idea of rebuilding America via Four Year Plans vs. our world's New Deal is the part that some reviewers seem to have trouble with. There are multiple ways to achieve a desired end, and while Joe Steele's brutal methods might have achieved some of the same goals as FDR's, the way you get to the goal line are very different.
The portrayal of the alternate J. Edgar Hoover was brilliant and scary, because it wasn't that far off from things he did in the real world. My only concern with the world, as portrayed, was how quickly things were shown to go toward tyranny. The circumstances were different enough from Russia that it felt like a rush, in order to get to the heart of the story.
Sadly, the book has become more politically relevant in terms of its warnings against political extremism and the various faces of tyranny.
The portrayal of the alternate J. Edgar Hoover was brilliant and scary, because it wasn't that far off from things he did in the real world. My only concern with the world, as portrayed, was how quickly things were shown to go toward tyranny. The circumstances were different enough from Russia that it felt like a rush, in order to get to the heart of the story.
Sadly, the book has become more politically relevant in terms of its warnings against political extremism and the various faces of tyranny.
September 21, 2025
I’m normally a big fan of Harry Turtledove’s work. One of the things I’ve always admired is the way he weaves multiple viewpoints from both sides of a conflict into a story. His long-running series that began with How Few Remain and concluded 11 books later with Settling Accounts remains one of my all-time favorites.
With that in mind, I was excited to pick up Joe Steele. Unfortunately, I ended up disappointed. The novel relies on only two points of view, and while they are technically from “different” sides, the two characters felt very similar in many ways. This limited the scope of the story and cut down on the richness of perspective I usually enjoy in Turtledove’s books.
On top of that, the book felt overly long—at least a hundred pages more than it needed to be. Instead of being immersive, it became a bit of a slog. That said, I can see why others have praised it. The parallels to today’s political climate are clear and thought-provoking, which gives the novel some real weight.
In the end, though, this one just didn’t land for me. An average read at best.
3 stars
With that in mind, I was excited to pick up Joe Steele. Unfortunately, I ended up disappointed. The novel relies on only two points of view, and while they are technically from “different” sides, the two characters felt very similar in many ways. This limited the scope of the story and cut down on the richness of perspective I usually enjoy in Turtledove’s books.
On top of that, the book felt overly long—at least a hundred pages more than it needed to be. Instead of being immersive, it became a bit of a slog. That said, I can see why others have praised it. The parallels to today’s political climate are clear and thought-provoking, which gives the novel some real weight.
In the end, though, this one just didn’t land for me. An average read at best.
3 stars
October 26, 2024
A chilling read on the eve of the 2024 election. One can't help but think of this as a fortune teller's guide to life under a 2nd Trump regime. Military tribunals, the loss of freedom, justice, and liberty. All surrendered by a fearful and obedient public crying out for a strongman despite the obvious dangers that he poses.
Where does Turtledove come up with this?
The narrative obeys the unwritten rule of alternate history: to feel utterly plausible and at the same time utterly different. The narrative's branching paths are a perfect way to display the range of human experience under Joe Steele. Having a pair of brothers who take very different approaches to the problem at hand allows the reader to see the whole story, rather than a limited perspective. It was a fantastic idea, brought in for perfect use.
I recommend this to anyone interested in the early 20th century as a historical setting, or the coming period in America (if all goes tragically wrong).
Where does Turtledove come up with this?
The narrative obeys the unwritten rule of alternate history: to feel utterly plausible and at the same time utterly different. The narrative's branching paths are a perfect way to display the range of human experience under Joe Steele. Having a pair of brothers who take very different approaches to the problem at hand allows the reader to see the whole story, rather than a limited perspective. It was a fantastic idea, brought in for perfect use.
I recommend this to anyone interested in the early 20th century as a historical setting, or the coming period in America (if all goes tragically wrong).
September 14, 2018
I expected more. 200 pages of "the Democrats can be tyrants too" and 200 page of the old "America was right to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki because it prevented a bloody ground war" plus an extra thirty pages of "the whole country is screwed but no, we can't really tell whose fault it is."
So much casual racism, which kind of made sense in the beginning but never really went anywhere useful.
It's a bit like one of those late night TV infomercials for a twenty piece set of steak knives: "But wait, there's more!" Instead of a plot arc it's just a list of bad stuff that would happen if
So much casual racism, which kind of made sense in the beginning but never really went anywhere useful.
It's a bit like one of those late night TV infomercials for a twenty piece set of steak knives: "But wait, there's more!" Instead of a plot arc it's just a list of bad stuff that would happen if
December 13, 2020
As I have found with the other alternate history books I have read from this author, this novel offers an interesting scenario. Depression era America elects a firebrand Democrat named Joe Steele, after Franklin Roosevelt dies in a fire that may have been arson. Instead of multiple characters in the other works, this book follows two brothers, both of them reporters, one in New York and the other in Chicago.
I did find the book's ending disappointing, perhaps because I am used to the positive fates for characters in the other alternate history books. That doesn't stop me from recommending it. Very enjoyable and thought provoking read.
I did find the book's ending disappointing, perhaps because I am used to the positive fates for characters in the other alternate history books. That doesn't stop me from recommending it. Very enjoyable and thought provoking read.
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