How many characters can you put in a book. It drove me crazy as it took so long for anything to happen. es there might be many different themes you could explore, but don't do all of them! The shift of the great war into America nd a new civial war was an interesting theme. The portrayal of battle and historical attitudes was done well, but it went everywhere and was very frustrating. ( )

Alternate history novels based on a Confederate victory in the Civil War are not new, in fact Harry Turtledove has stated that his inspiration this Great War series came from a magazine article written by MacKinlay Kantor. What sets The Great War: American Front apart is its scope.

Half the fun of alternate history fiction is the intellectual exercise of wondering how life would be different if something in the past has changed. Here, in light of the CSA victory related in the previous novel, "How Few Remain", the CSA is a stalwart ally of France and England while the twice humiliated and isolated USA is surrounded by hostile nations to the north and south and has turned to Imperial Germany for support. Naturally, when Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated North America is immediately thrown into conflict, Presidents Teddy Roosevelt of the US and Woodrow Wilson of the CS quickly declare war. There is no long period of isolationism that protected the intact United States in our history. Turtledove is very erudite in theorizing how the cultures of the two Americas has changed and adapted based on their two diverging roads, from the dashing French flair of the Rebel cavalry officers to the German inspired General Staff, mandatory conscription, and industrial might of the Yankee war machine.

But this story has drama as well. Turtledove brings us dozens of narratives from nearly every faction involved in the North American conflict. Some readers may have trouble keeping track of the broad panorama. Fortunately there is a Turtledove Wiki out there that can help. I admire the way he refuses to choose sides in this conflict; this is not wish fulfillment fiction. He makes an effort to make both sides of the conflict ugly and brutal; this is NOT an alternate reality you want to live in. For example, he makes it clear that many of the Yankees are just as racist as the Southerners, perhaps more so because so few blacks live in this USA, and because of resentments over loosing the War of Secession. I doubt that it would really be as bad as he makes it out to be; the abolitionist movements was going strong back in the 1860’s and was of such religious fervor that I doubt it would just dry up after loosing the war.

Yet at the same time you find sympathetic characters on all sides. I found myself worrying about the young married couple down in Birmingham just as I felt for the Boston fisherman and his family. The two groups that are perhaps the most sympathetic are the Canadian families (one group in Manitoba and another in Quebec) who must find ways to survive under a brutal occupation by the US Army. The characters are of many backgrounds, races, and political persuasions. Being that I am fascinated by this time period of our history, I found this to be very gripping and immersive. The ending will certainly leave you hanging, mostly because this is just the first book in a three-novel story arc that is part of an overall eleven novel series. If you have the patience and perseverance you will be rewarded by a richly plotted and imagined story an America ripped apart by war. ( )

I have the whole series. I LOVE Harry Turtledove.

....hey that rhymes :o) ( )

There are plenty alternate history tales based on the South winning the Civil War. The ones I have read usually deal with thus and such battle or focus on the war itself. This book, however, looks at what might have happened fifty years later. The year is 1914. Archduke Ferdinand has been assassinated in Sarajevo, and the nations of Europe are busy declaring war on each other. The Confederate States of America honors it's alliance with England and France and declares war on the Central Powers. Unfortunately, its northern neighbor has an allaince with Germany, making it one of those Central Powers. So World War I comes to North America and the book follows its progress, if you could call it that. Mr. Turtledove tells the tale through vignettes of ordinary people--soldiers and civilians, Northerners and Southerners. It's a great panorama, as disparate people are slowly drawn together and the book reaches its climax. Unfortunately, the climax, while it wraps up some of the stories, doesn't bring the end of the war itself. That's good for Mr. Turtledove, since I now have an interest in reading the book's sequel. Ah, well. Until then, I'll just have to keep this one on my shelf.
--J. ( )