SF Masterworks Group discussion

Trapped in 1877, a historian writes an account of an alternate history of America in which the South won the Civil War. Living in this alternate timeline, he was determined to change events at Gettysburg. When he's offered the chance to return to that fateful turning point his actions change history as he knows it, leaving him in an all too familiar past.

This book was an unexpected surprise for me. Absolutely brilliant. Really fired up my interest in reading more of this author and alternate histories.

Despite my lack of knowledge of the American Civil War (I know it roughly, but in no great detail) , I found myself enthralled from start to finish. I struggle to keep up concentration when reading, so any book that makes me want to sit down for an hour or two and keep turning the pages is a good one. This sure did that. I was drawn to this because whether TV or book, I love the concept of the alternative universe. Strangely - bearing in mind this is a Sci-Fi series - the story only lost it's edge for me when it veered into hokey 50's-style sci-fi with the time machine towards the end. That element was too quickly & conveniently introduced. Even if a genius could devise such a machine out of the blue (in a relatively backward society) which is unlikely, the materials wouldn't exist to create it. But if you suspend that disbelief (and after all, that is one of the points of Sci-Fi I suppose) , it's still a great story, with an interesting ending. Very enjoyable.