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Guns of the South Harry Turtledove 9780345413666 Books

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Guns of the South Harry Turtledove 9780345413666 Books

In the normal course, I would likely never give a four-star review to a book that may be among my favorites for the year. However, "The Guns of the South" may be in that limited category.

Why "only" four stars? First, I find alternative, or "speculative" history fascinating, but the device that Turtledove uses to create a Confederate victory in the Civil War is flimsy -- time-traveling Afrikaners who seek to maintain slavery after their defeat in South Africa and bring AK-47s and other modern devices with them to assure a Confederate victory. Second, there is a plot device -- which I will not disclose here -- used to turn the Confederate victors against their time-traveling helpers that just doesn't seem legitimate to me. And third, the author never met a detail he didn't like.

And yet.... The third defect is a virtue as well as a vice, for Turtledove creates a complete world for his characters. Even if one (including me) cannot accept the basic plot premise of time traveling intervenors in the Civil War, everything about the world in the 1860s is entirely realistic and believable. That extends to the characters; the scenes of Robert E. Lee and Abraham Lincoln seem as if they could well have happened. And the war scenes, while they go on (far) too long for my taste, bring the sounds and sights (and smells) of battle into reality.

At 561 pages, this was a long slog, but at the end of the day, it was worthwhile and then some. So this may well be the rare case when a book that earns less than five-star review ends up being one of my top 10 for the year.


Tags : Guns of the South [Harry Turtledove] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Northern Virginia is ragged and ill-equipped. The battle of Gettysburg has broken the back of the Confederacy and decimated its manpower. Then Andries Rhoodie,Harry Turtledove,Guns of the South,Del Rey,0345413660,Historical - General,Science fiction.,United States;History;1861-1865, Civil War;Fiction.,United States;History;Civil War, 1861-1865;Fiction.,1861-1865, Civil War,Alternative History,American Historical Fiction,Civil War, 1861-1865,English,Fantasy,Fiction,Fiction - Science Fiction,Fiction Historical,Fiction Science Fiction Action & Adventure,Fiction Science Fiction General,Fiction Science Fiction Space Opera,Historical fiction,History,Science Fiction - General,Science fiction,United States,War fiction,c 1800 to c 1900

Guns of the South Harry Turtledove 9780345413666 Books Reviews

Harry Turtledove is not for everyone, but I really enjoy his books. This one is an excellent blend of history and science fiction with a great premise--what if a group of militant South Africans traveled back in time and gave the Confederate army AK-47s during the American Civil War. The book offers lots of action as well as thoughtful and balanced speculation of what would have happened if the South had had that kind of firepower. There's also a fun love story. If you've never read any of Turtledove's books, this is a great place to start.
What an intriguing concept! Honestly, I have never really read much into the historical fiction before this book. I read it on the recommendation of a friend of mine. So glad I did. Just the premise was a lot of fun. Everyone has probably wondered at some point "What would have happened if the South won the war?" But who would have thought "What would happen if people from our time went back in time and gave the south AK-47's?"
But the part I found fascinating was that the war was really only the first 1/3rd or half of the book. The rest of the book follows a couple of key people through the next couple of years and we see the effect of the south winning the war, and we find out why the people from the future took such an interest in the south winning.
This book impressed me, so many different ways—

1) The nineteenth-century characters are all historical (as best I can tell). In the entire novel, only the "Rivington men" (the South Africans time-traveling from 2014) are fictional.

2) The experiences of character Nate Caudell (First Sergeant in Company C of the 47th North Carolina) all seem plausible. Meaning, the character's experiences read like what the historical Nate Caudell must have experienced and must have felt, during and after the war.

3) Turtledove has given a lot of thought to how the experiences of the American Civil War would change the Confederacy, even after it won in 1864. Even in this reality, the antebellum South is gone, never to return.

4) How the North (a.k.a. the USA) reacts to losing the ACW also surprised me. Invading Canada, _really?_ Lincoln is un-assassinated in this reality, but scorned by both countries.

5) The most interesting thing to me is how point-of-view character Robert E. Lee and point-of-view character Nate Caudell change their thinking when they get a chance to read the book _Picture Book of the Civil War, 1861-1865_ (published 1996), and they see how the institution of slavery is savaged by historians of the future.

There is nothing bad that I can say about this book. It works as ACW historical fiction, and it works as alt-history fiction.
In the normal course, I would likely never give a four-star review to a book that may be among my favorites for the year. However, "The Guns of the South" may be in that limited category.

Why "only" four stars? First, I find alternative, or "speculative" history fascinating, but the device that Turtledove uses to create a Confederate victory in the Civil War is flimsy -- time-traveling Afrikaners who seek to maintain slavery after their defeat in South Africa and bring AK-47s and other modern devices with them to assure a Confederate victory. Second, there is a plot device -- which I will not disclose here -- used to turn the Confederate victors against their time-traveling helpers that just doesn't seem legitimate to me. And third, the author never met a detail he didn't like.

And yet.... The third defect is a virtue as well as a vice, for Turtledove creates a complete world for his characters. Even if one (including me) cannot accept the basic plot premise of time traveling intervenors in the Civil War, everything about the world in the 1860s is entirely realistic and believable. That extends to the characters; the scenes of Robert E. Lee and Abraham Lincoln seem as if they could well have happened. And the war scenes, while they go on (far) too long for my taste, bring the sounds and sights (and smells) of battle into reality.

At 561 pages, this was a long slog, but at the end of the day, it was worthwhile and then some. So this may well be the rare case when a book that earns less than five-star review ends up being one of my top 10 for the year.