Book 1), American Front (The Great War

I really enjoyed How Few Remain, even if it pains me to even think about a Southern victory in the Civil War.(But I enjoyed the relationship between Longstreet and Jackson, he really captured their personalities.) Here Turtledove seems to lose interest in his characters and in the story itself about 150 pages in. There a few interesting characters on both sides, but no one you can really 'root' for to survive and win. That said, I can't wait to see how he writes himself out of the complexities he has created in this volume. But, as a previous reviewer has stated, I will wait for the paperback.

Some people consider WWI as the "Great War" and, I'm sure, that those of who fought were correct at the time. This is an 'alternate' history of this war, meaning it is not the facts, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I've been meaning to get around to this book for a long time, but it took the movie, 'The Great Raid' to cause me to put this as priority.

I previously reviewed GHOST SOLDIERS on which the movie was made, and done well. It was so realistic that I had to cry (and I don't cry easily) because of the ferocity and lact of humanity the enemy showed. It was the same in WWI only our soldiers were not equipped to fight anyone that animalistic. I see now why Tennessean Alvin York went berserk and killed so many of the approaching enemy in this war, as he was cornered and was fighting for his life.

It's not always war where you have to defend you right to live in freedom. I had to use my elbows to get out of a difficult situation which I found myself in this past month. As in WWII, the enemy set out to engage and reduce the other side. This war engulfed Europe in 1914 and we came to their aid; now, in 2005, more than ninety years later, Europe has surpassed U.S.A. as the superpower of the world calling themselves the United State of Europe. Copycats! We should not jump the gun so quickly when the ally you fight for strives to surpass you in everyway. We thought we were helping England against Germany. Well, at least the Confederates who 'lost' the American Civil War took the cause of Britain and France, while the American Yankees took the side of Germany. It was another Civil War only on foreign ground this time.

The machine gun, poison gas, trench warfare and the airplane were used first in this war to beat all wars. "As President Teddy Roosevelt rallied the diverse ethnic groups of the nothern state (where he originated from) -- Italians, Mormons, Jews, and Irish -- Confederate President Woodrow Wilson struggled to hold together a nation still beset by ignorance, prejudice, and class divisions." The United States still has all of the listed attributes, especially two professors from other states who tore down one of the Southern Civil War heros with a book full of lies and no truth. That shows ignorance and prejudice is alive and well as the Northerners are still considering Tennessee a hillbilly state and everyone in it "white trash."

As in WWII, the aim was "don't surrender," and "never give up whatever the situation." The Americans were bound to give no information to the enemy when captured except name, rank, and serial number. Sometimes, in severe times of conflict, the soldiers and their leaders had to crawl like a snake to survive. Planes had a pivotal role in rescuing the POWs in the Phillippines and their flying low over the camp was the signal for the troops to move into position for the night maneuvers. It's true that war is hell; and nothing is really accomplished. When you defeat one dictator or generalisimo, there is another to take his place to start another war.

Turtledove has out a new book, END OF THE BEGINNING, which I am looking forward to reading and reviewing. He has a vast array of war books in his repetroie such as THE GUNS OF THE SOUTH, DAYS OF INFAMY (that was in one of Gen. MacArthur's speeches; I remember as he was my first hero and I had a little plaster statue of him), HOMEWARD BOUND, and DRIVE TO THE EAST. Let's rise up again and go there to show those Northerners that we can stand up for our beliefs.

Great War: American Front was all and all a typical Harry turtledove book. It was preety good, but I was upset that he didn't really alter the course of the European war with theinclusion of the Yankee war machine. It's worth reading again, though.

H. Turtledove is the master of alternate history novels and this novel is no exception. However, before you read it, realize that it is another TOO LONG 4-part series. Unless you have 3-4 years to spare waiting for all the others to come out, don't start it.
The publisher should be chastised for not mentioning on the cover that this is not a complete novel, just one quarter of one.

How Few Remain was much better and really gave me high expectations for this novel. Although Turtledove does a great job with the setting, he tries to develop too many characters. Unlike Guns of the South he does not use historical figures centrally. Teddy Roosevelt is President of the US in 1914, a major character in How Few Remain, but not here.

This is great alternate history. The scenario is so believeable that I had to remind myself that Germany was not allied with the USA during WW I and that the CSA lost the War Against Yankee Arrogance. The charachters are all interesting. If you like alternate history or war novels, I would highly recommend this book, its prequel How Few Remain, its sequels, and the American Empire Trilogy, which is the continuation of the series.

The book is poor as literature. Alternate histories are good because they give us things to think about, but in order to be good it has to be based in some truth. It is my opinion that the South was missrepresented in this novel. I mean, blacks become communist? That's a bit extreem. I did like the concept of the book though and I do agree with Turtledove that if the South had won Lincoln's War they would have sided with the allies. Weather the North would have gone with the Central Powers is food for thought. I give this book 1 star for idea only. The concept is good even if the basis of the story is very poor.

The book "The Great War: American Front" is yet another masterpiece by Harry Turtledove, who has not disappointed me yet! When Casius jumped into the Yankee trenches, and was given rifles to give the Congaree Socialists, I was flabbergasted. But what I loved best was that Turtledove left me hanging at the end, instead of ending the book in a nice little package like so many books do.

Well-
The imagination is there-
The writing skills are there-
The book is great!
The only thing that I don tlike is that it is a little tricky to remember all 20 or so characters and the way he jumps from character to character can be rather annoying- but it grows on you as you get used to it.
All in all= A-

This was the first Harry Turtledove book I read, and I can't wait to get into "How Few Remain". I also can't wait to get the sequel to "American Front". I especially loved the tales of George Enos on the Ripple, and the pilot who compared himself to a knight. At 14 years old, this book bit into my homework time! I just couldn't put it down!

Harry Turteldove has an entertaining writing style and does originate some interesting vignettes concerning individuals which seem to be a logical extension of their historical character. However, since most of his projected "alternate history" is based on poorly-researched historical fact, the projections into the future are inaccurate at best, and maliciously defamatory at worst.
Turtledove's knowledge and understanding of the factual history of the South immediately before and during the Civil War seems limited to the "Our Weekly Reader" sort of "facts" which bear little, if any, relationship to genuine history. It seems obvious that his "research" has consisted of reading history books written at the grade school level and that he is satisfied with that background.
The author has ignored the concept of in-depth research in favor of blatant sensationalism, portraying the South as it never was and creating a false perspective of the North as "noble crusaders" when, in fact, invading Union troops savagely raped, robbed, and looted slaves and Free Blacks with a gusto comparable to the Waffen SS in the Caucasus.
Alternate history has to be grounded in fact to begin with, and since the author has only a rudimentary and erroneous concept of history, his admirable writing style is wasted on a tawdry piece of garbage written to sell for its sensationist effect.
Maj. Michael Kelley, CSA, Commanding, 37th Texas

I could cut and paste my `Into the Darkness' review here, only American Front lacks either aliens or magic too make it the least bit interesting. There's more then a few vivid descriptions of a horse and wagon stuck in a muddy road in here, I think the plots in one of those wagons.