Ratings7
Average rating3.3
From the master of alternate history comes an epic of the Second Civil War. It was an epoch of glory and success, of disaster and despair. Twenty years after the South won the Civil War, America writhed once more in the bloody throes of battle. Furious over the annexation of key Mexican territory, the United States declared total war against the Confederate States of America. And so, in 1883, the fragile peace was shattered.But this was a new kind of war, fought on a lawless frontier where the blue and gray battled not only each other, but the Apache, the outlaw, and even the redcoat. Along with France, England entered the fray on the side of the South, with blockades and invasions from Canada. Out of this tragic struggle emerged figures great and small. The disgraced Abraham Lincoln crisscrossed the nation championing socialist ideals. Confederate cavalry leader Jeb Stuart sought to prevent wholesale slaughter in the desert Southwest, while cocky young Theodore Roosevelt and stodgy George Custer bickered over modern weapons--even as they drove the British back into western Canada.Thanks to the efforts of journalists like Samuel Clemens, the nation witnessed the clash of human dreams and passions. Confederate genius Stonewall Jackson again soared to the heights of military expertise, while the North's McClellan proved sadly undeserving of his once shining reputation as the "young Napoleon." For in the Second War Between the States, the times, the stakes, and the battle lines had changed . . . and so would history.Once again, Harry Turtledove has created a thoroughly engrossing alternate history novel, a profoundly original epic of blood and honor, courage and sacrifice, set amidst the raw beauty of young America's frontier wilderness.From the Hardcover edition.
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6 primary booksTimeline-191 is a 6-book series with 6 primary works first released in 1997 with contributions by Harry Turtledove.
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This is not a book. This is a fanfiction of history. Turtledove does not develop his own characters, he pulls some ready made characters out of history and drops them in a plot of his own making. And that plot is wonderful. He clearly has put a lot of thought into his premise, making reasonable guesses about the course of history if the South maintained it's Independence. But that does not excuse the lack of character creation. This book includes Lincoln, Custer, Theodore Roosevelt, Stonewall Jackson, and many other famous characters as it's main cast, and they are all paper thin foils of their real selves; Lincoln's a revolutionary, Custer's a bloody leader, Roosevelt's a Jingoist, and Jackson's a loyal military commander. By far my favorite character was the German Military attache, Colonel Schlieffen (who would go on the be the architect of the Schlieffen Plan), just cause he wasn't shackled to a historical portrayal of his character. I could learn and explore who his character was, rather than knowing as soon as the word Custer was written on the page. He gave Lincoln an interesting spin by making him a Marxist, and if he had done that with every other character I would have shouted his praise from the rooftops. But he didn't, so I call this a fanfiction because Turtledove blatantly grabbed characters from another medium and used them for this own story.
Also, this book loses another star by having frayed fucking edges. I'll keep doing this until publishers stop.