Stars and Stripes Forever: A Novel of Alternate History (Stars and Stripes Trilogy) |
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Stars and Stripes Forever: A Novel of Alternate History (Stars and Stripes Trilogy)
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by Harry Harrison
Sales Rank: 262406
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List Price: $7.50
$7.50
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on 8-4-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Mass Market Paperback with 368 pages
Published by: Del Rey October 5, 1999
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0345409345
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0345409348
Book Dimensions:
7 x 4.2 x 1 inches
Weighs: 6.2 ounces
From Publishers Weekly
Admirers of Harrison's West of Eden trilogy or his magisterial Dark Ages collaboration with John Holm will not be pleased by this disappointing novel of an alternate Civil War. Neither will buffs of that conflict or military historians accustomed to work at the level occupied by Harry Turtledove. Harrison's premise is that an actual historical event (the seizure of two Confederate diplomats from the British steamer Trent) leads to open war between Britain and the North. The British then attack Confederate territory by mistake, whereupon North and South join forces to give the British a royal shellacking, eventually driving them from the continent (the French Canadians form an independent republic). Harrison has thrown in some original touches, such as leading roles for John Stuart Mill and William Tecumseh Sherman. Many of the other historical characters are well handled and the burgeoning military technology of the area is explored in some detail. But the British are so consistently depicted as gross bunglers and their leaders (including a Queen Victoria straight out of Kitty Kelley) as Anglophobic stereotypes that all of Harrison's homework ends up supporting what is hardly above the level of an idiot plot. This appears to be the first of a series. Illustrations. Author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Kirkus Reviews
Another alternate-world workout from the veteran Ireland-resident American author, following his splendid Dark Ages trilogy (concluded with King and Emperor, 1996). This time, Harrison travels the high-traffic American Civil War thoroughfare. Here, as in real-world history, the Civil War is already under way when the captain of a US warship removes two Confederate bigwigs from a British vessel in international waters. Thereafter, matters diverge: in reality, a furious and minatory British diplomatic retort was toned down by Queen Victoria's beloved Prince Consort, Albert; in Harrison's version, Albert dies before he can rewrite the dispatch, leaving President Lincoln facing a senseless war with Britain. Meanwhile, thanks to several key changes in personnel, the Union's armed forces gain better equipment and grow stronger. In due course, British forces, massing in Canada, invade: predictably so, since their inflexible and conservative tactics are designed to wage not merely the previous war of 1812 but the Revolutionary War. At the same time, the iron-built Monitor and the ironclad Virginia duly clash in Hampton Roads, rendering almost the entire British Navy obsolete. Finally, a British force sent to break the Union blockade of the Gulf Coast accidentally attacks and destroys a Confederate stronghold, leaving the British commander-in-chief, the Duke of Cambridge, with no alternative (as he sees it) but to mount a full scale invasion of the CSA as well. Naturally, when attacked by a common enemy, the USA and CSA set aside their differences to deal with this new threat. Expect sequels. The best alternate worlds - such as Ward Moore's Bring the Jubilee - branch off from reality at a single, precise point. Harrison's, though, involves a string of what-ifs, each more improbable than the one before. The Civil War scenario has wide, guaranteed appeal, yet savvy readers will recognize wish-fulfillment, no matter how cleverly disguised as docudrama. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Reader Reviews
Harry Harrison starts out with a interesting idea. What if Prince Albert was dead when a U.S. warship stopped a British ship and seized two Confederate emissaries on their way to England? In our history Prince Albert was able to defuse the crisis. But what if Queen Victoria responded like the rest of England with outrage and declared war on the U.S. of A? Things become A LOT more interesting. Soon Lincoln and the North finds itself fighting both the South and an English invasion from Canada. That, in itself would of made for an interesting novel. But Harrison can't let it go at that. Right when you think the North might lose with too many fronts to fight on the British Navy invades the WRONG city. Instead of saying, "OOps, sorry, you Yanks all look alike." it decides to continue to fight BOTH sides. Of course, the North and the South join up together and the tide turns again. BESIDES the fact that I don't picture the British Navy landing troops on the wrong coast, I don't believe that either the British navy nor the British army would be so easy to defeat. I also don't see the British officers as being so stupid. True, it would of been a costly battle for the British, with the USA and CSA having more local ironclades to defend their coast, more Americans would of joined the army on both sides and the defenders would have shorter supply lines, but still it would not have been so easy. I'm not saying the Americans would not win, bit it would of taken longer and frankly, I still don't think the British would of attacked the South by accident. They HAVE maps. Also the book shows British troops as looters and murders. Which they were, but they were also DAMN tough fighters!
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Stars and Stripes Forever: A Novel of Alternate History (Stars and Stripes Trilogy)
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Price: $7.50
Updated on 8-4-2008.
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