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August 01, 2004
Review: (books) Great War
This review is actualy of Harry Turtledove’s Great War Trilogy, rather than of any book within that trilogy. I just finished it a few minutes ago, and it’s fresh in my head...
Turtledove is best known for his Alternate History (if you had a PhD in Byzantine history, what would write about?), and this set falls right in line. The central idea is that after a key set of orders failed to end up in Union hands (In real Life, Lee made a bad mistake about orders involving troop movements), the South occupies Washington DC. This brings France and England to recognize the existence of the Confederate States of America. As a result of having lost the Civil War (called the War of Secession in this universe). Abe Lincoln survives, and the Republican Party is discredited for a generation. In the prequel novel How Few Remain, Turtledove shows the war that follows the second Republican President’s decision to dispute the CSA’s right to buy states from the Empire of Mexico. France and England invade the USA to bring that fight to a halt...
The result of all this is that by 1914 the USA feels humiliated, and will stop at nothing to "get some of our own back". Instead of the 4th of July as a major national holiday, Turtledove’s Americans celebrate “Remembrance day”, a national day of mourning and rededication to the patriotic cause of hurting the Confederacy, France and England. To do this, they’ve teamed with Germany.
Domestic politics have changed as well. Lincoln lived long enough to split the Republican party-- only a splinter of it remains, the rest ended up joining Lincoln in the Socialist party.
One of Turtledove’s talents is in making his characters sympathetic. Even when (in other series) he writes of alien cultures, he manages to make them both consistent and credible-- and understandable. In this series, he makes note of the fact that Machine gunners rarely surrender; when they try, the enemies they had been shooting at tend to kill them. He shows us characters committing this cold-blooded murder, and we understand and have empathy for their actions...
We readers are giving many a character to have sympathy with; I can’t think of a single walk of life Turtledove hasn’t represented in this book. Soldiers, yes, those by the score. But also fisherman’s wives’, farmers in both occupied Manitoba and “liberated” Quebec, a South Carolina plantation owner, even a Socialist Congresswoman from New York. These are some of the characters who get point-of-view chapters. There are many other characters whose lives are followed within the narrative...
The story flows well, laying down its mosaic, and only occasionally moralizing. The world with the Confederacy is a colder place. The US is so consumed by the desire for vengeance that the torch of Liberty burns only dimly at best. Indeed, in New York Harbor a sword wielding Statue of Remembrance greets new immigrants...
That image, most of all, brings home for me what World War 1 was about for most of the world: nationalism and nonsense. Europe rushed into war because they could, because they thought it would be easy, because they were so consumed by the idea that the enemy was a demon that they were excited to go off on a grand adventure. And because they felt this way about the war, they imposed the harshest possible terms for peace. In real life, that gave rise to Hitler. In Turtledove’s world, that gives rise to Jake Featherston. Mr. Turtledove was kind enough to Extend this universe into a second trilogy. This Tuesday, (3 August 2004), Mr. Turtledove begins the 3rd trilogy. I’ve got some reading to do...
Rating:
5 golden rings out of 5 turtledoves. Was that reference too obscure? Anyway; the series is _very_ well written, well conceived and well executed. By turning history on its head, Turtledove gives a good account for one of the least-talked about wars in recent American history...
Posted by Andrew at August 1, 2004 05:04 PM
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Comments
Just to be pedantic, it's probably "Secession" not "Succession"
Posted by: John Foelster at August 3, 2004 03:02 PM