Author | Harry Turtledove |
---|---|
Cover artist | George Pratt |
Language | English |
Series | Great War |
Genre | Alternate history novel |
Publisher | Ballantine |
Publication date | August 3, 1999 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
Pages | 484 |
ISBN | 0-345-40561-7 |
OCLC | 41086667 |
Preceded by | The Great War: American Front |
Followed by | The Great War: Breakthroughs |
The Great War: Walk in Hell is the second book in the Great War series of alternate history books by Harry Turtledove. [1] It is also the third part of the Southern Victory (unofficial title). It takes the Southern Victory Series from 1915 to 1916. [2] [3]
The United States and Confederate States are locked in a stalemate as both of their offensives have stalled; the U.S. in Kentucky pushing south, the C.S.A. in Maryland pushing north. The Confederacy must also deal with their black population rising up in rebellion driven by Marxist doctrine, and a change in administration as President Woodrow Wilson's term ends.
In the Confederate States Presidential Election of 1915, Whig Vice President Gabriel Semmes (apparently a fictitious relative of real life Confederate Navy officer Raphael Semmes) is elected President by a wide margin over Radical Liberal candidate Doroteo Arango of Chihuahua to succeed Wilson.
The war begins to turn in the favor of the U.S. as the Kentucky offensive, led by George Armstrong Custer, manages to conquer enough of Kentucky to readmit it into the Union after 54 years as a member of the Confederacy. He uses the new invention known as "barrels" (tanks) to break through.
The Confederacy, conversely, has begun to lose its gains in southern Pennsylvania, and to be pushed back into Maryland. Washington, D.C., in Confederate hands since 1914, is still in their possession, but as their hold on Maryland weakens, the C.S. is faced with the possibility of losing the old U.S. capital as well.
Meanwhile, Flora Hamburger, a Socialist from New York, gains a nomination from her party, installing her as one of the first women in the House of Representatives in this alternate timeline.
Faced with a shortage of eligible white men, the Confederacy is forced to consider a bill that would allow blacks to serve in the C.S. Army, even though a number of them had rebelled against the same government that is now offering citizenship to volunteers.
The novel ends at the end of the 1916 presidential election where incumbent Democratic President Theodore Roosevelt and Vice President Walter McKenna are re-elected over Socialist Party candidate Eugene V. Debs by a wide margin with the U.S. Army moving further into Confederate territory.
Publishers Weekly gave the book a positive review, stating that " the author emphasizes character, and his thorough knowledge of the period's history will, as usual, captivate his readers". [4] SF Site also praised the book, saying that "Turtledove takes us to another world and plants us with all vividness among its ingeniously contrived unrealities". [5]
Kirkus were critical of the book, saying it was "not so much alternate history as patriotic solipsism". [6]
Alternate history is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have occurred but are resolved differently than in actual history. As conjecture based upon historical fact, alternate history stories propose What if? scenarios about crucial events in human history, and present outcomes very different from the historical record. Some alternate histories are considered a subgenre of science fiction, or historical fiction.
Harry Norman Turtledove is an American author who is best known for his work in the genres of alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and mystery fiction. He is a student of history and completed his PhD in Byzantine history. His dissertation was on the period 565–582. He lives in Southern California.
How Few Remain is a 1997 alternate history novel by Harry Turtledove. It is the first part of the Southern Victory saga, which depicts a world in which the Confederate States of America won the American Civil War. It is similar to his earlier novel The Guns of the South, but unlike the latter, it is a purely historical novel with no fantastical or science fiction elements. The book received the Sidewise Award for Alternate History in 1997, and was also nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1998. It covers the Southern Victory Series period of history from 1862 and from 1881 to 1882.
The Guns of the South is an alternate history novel set during the American Civil War by Harry Turtledove. It was released in the United States on September 22, 1992.
Drive to the East is the second book in Harry Turtledove's Settling Accounts series of alternate history novels.
Settling Accounts: Return Engagement is the first book of Harry Turtledove's Settling Accounts series of alternate history novels.
The Southern Victory series or Timeline-191 is a series of eleven alternate history novels by author Harry Turtledove, beginning with How Few Remain (1997) and published over a decade. The period addressed in the series begins during the Civil War and spans nine decades, up to the mid-1940s. In the series, the Confederate States defeats the United States of America in 1862, therefore making good its attempt at secession and becoming an independent nation. Subsequent books are built on imagining events based on this alternate timeline.
Bring the Jubilee is a 1953 novel of alternate history by American writer Ward Moore.
The Great War: American Front is the first alternate history novel in the Great War trilogy by Harry Turtledove. It is the second part of Turtledove's Southern Victory series of novels. It takes the Southern Victory Series from 1914 to 1915.
American Empire: Blood and Iron is the first book of the American Empire trilogy of alternate history fiction novels by Harry Turtledove. It is a sequel to the novel How Few Remain and the Great War trilogy, and is part of the Southern Victory series.
American Empire: The Center Cannot Hold is the second book in the American Empire alternate history series by Harry Turtledove. It takes place during the period of the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression. During this era in Turtledove's Southern Victory world, the Confederate States of America, stretching from Sonora to Virginia, is led by Whigs while the United States of America is controlled by Socialists.
Settling Accounts: The Grapple by Harry Turtledove is the third book in the Settling Accounts tetralogy, an alternate history setting of World War II known as the Second Great War in North America. It is part of the Southern Victory, which supposes that the Confederate States of America won the American Civil War. It takes place in the Southern Victory Series Earth in 1943.
The Great War: Breakthroughs is the third and final installment of the Great War trilogy in the Southern Victory series of alternate history novels by Harry Turtledove. It takes the Southern Victory Series to 1917.
Settling Accounts: In at the Death is the last novel of the Settling Accounts tetralogy that presents an alternate history of World War II known as the Second Great War that was released July 27, 2007. It brings to a conclusion the multi-series compilation by author Harry Turtledove, a series sometimes referred to as Southern Victory. It covers the time period from 1943 to 1945.
American Empire: The Victorious Opposition is the third and final book in the American Empire alternate history series by Harry Turtledove, and the seventh in the Southern Victory series of books.
The Disunited States of America is an alternate history novel by Harry Turtledove. It is a part of the Crosstime Traffic series, and takes place in an alternate world where the U.S. was never able to agree on a constitution and continued to govern under the Articles of Confederation. By the early 1800s, the nation dissolved with each state as a separate country. The states trade with each other, engage in diplomacy, and even go to war with each other. Other states exist which do not in our world, such as Boone.
American Civil War alternate histories are alternate history fiction that focuses on the Civil War ending differently or not occurring. The American Civil War is a popular point of divergence in English-language alternate history fiction. The most common variants detail the victory and survival of the Confederate States. Less common variants include a Union victory under different circumstances from actual history, resulting in a different postwar situation; black American slaves freeing themselves by revolt without waiting for Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation; a direct British and/or French intervention in the war; the survival of Lincoln during John Wilkes Booth's assassination attempt; a retelling of historical events with fantasy elements inserted; the Civil War never breaking out and a peaceful compromise being reached; and secret history tales. The point of divergence in such a story can be a "natural, realistic" event, such as one general making a different decision, or one sentry detecting an enemy invasion unlike in reality. It can also be an "unnatural" fantasy/science fiction plot device such as time travel, which usually takes the form of someone bringing modern weapons or hindsight knowledge into the past. Still another related variant is a scenario of a Civil War that breaks out at a different time from 1861 and under different circumstances.
If the South Had Won the Civil War is a 1961 alternate history book by MacKinlay Kantor, a writer who also wrote several novels about the American Civil War. It was originally published in the November 22, 1960, issue of Look magazine. It generated such a response that it was published in 1961 as a book.
The Confederate States of America (1861–1865) only had one president, Jefferson Davis. In various American Civil War alternate histories where the Confederacy won the American Civil War and continued its existence, various people have served in the office of the presidency of the Confederacy.