American Front (The Great War, #1) by Harry Turtledove

American Front (The Great War, #1) Reviews

• 
  Bryce

  Turtledove is great at describing the endless tedium and frustration of war; he attacks it from all sides and perspectives, building a complete picture. If you're interested in the big and little picture of war and political events, this is great. If not, the reader bores quickly.
  
• 
  Jonathan Lee

  I was hooked after reading the previous novel, "How Few Remain", and knew I had to continue with this series. It didn't serve as a prequel, but added some context and familiarity that I appreciated. This book had me flipping page after page, and I burned through it in just about a week or so. The third-person multiple POV is a bit confusing, but once I got each character straight, I loved seeing so many different experiences and lives during the war. A really thought-provoking and interesting read, looking forward to what else this series holds!
• 
  Jon

  I may include spoilers, so if you're planning to read the book (let's face it; you're not), consider yourself forewarned.
  
  First recall that we're talking about an alternate history where the South won the Civil War with the help of England and France. This book takes us to 1914, where World War I is starting. It's England, France, Russia and the Confederates (the "Quadruple Entente") versus the US, Germany, and presumably Austria and the Ottoman Empire. (If the latter two get a mention, it's very brief.) In North America, the war is primarily a struggle of the US versus the Confederates and Canada.
  
  The book is, like How Few Remain, told from a variety of perspectives. Unlike HFR, however, TGWAF (are those acronyms annoying enough?) tells the story from the perspective of common people. There are some historical figures present -- I counted Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, George Custer, Eugene Debs and Marcel Duchamp, but I'm sure there were more. These characters, however, are secondary to the everyday folk -- the New England fisherman, the Confederate Army major with the unfortunate surname "Lincoln", the black butler in a South Carolina mansion...
  
  There's less excitement in "I wonder what a New England fisherman would do in this timeline" than "I wonder what Abe Lincoln would do if he lost the war (and survived)." The book at times sounded like one of those histories where they try to convince you that the life of ordinary people is more worth studying than the life of kings and statesmen. Sounds fun, huh? Nevertheless, the book succeeded in making me think about World War I in different terms -- by hearing Virginia ripped apart by trench warfare, I could more readily imagine the psychological shock to Europeans. And I could more readily appreciate the benefit to America of not having a war on our home soil during the twentieth century.
  
  One of the book's drawbacks is its large cast of characters that makes it hard to remember who's who. Sometimes I had to wait until a soldier cursed the other side to remember which side he was on. Another is that everything is very slow developing and telegraphed. In an early scene, Confederate President Woodrow Wilson is giving a speech in Richmond, and soldiers fire bullets into the air to scare away the crowd. Is it really necessary to have a character wonder to himself what will happen when the bullets come back down? It doesn't move the plot along, and it doesn't really provide any "flavor" to the story.
  
  Nevertheless, the alternate history is fairly compelling. By the end of the book, the USA has advanced across most fronts, though the war is stalling. The USA has also pushed the CSA out of Pennsylvania and is trying to retake the parts of Maryland and DC that have fallen. The South is starting to be disrupted by a Marxist revolution led by blacks. That's one of Turtledove's cleverer ideas, and I'm waiting to see how this will play out.
  
• 
  A.J. Martorano

  The Great War American Front is a fascinating book that covers the beginning of an alternate version of World War 1 and its effects on the regular person and soldier. It’s the second book of the Southern Victory series from author Harry Turtledove which is a sort of thought exercise on how the world would look if the Confederacy had won the civil war. I found it extremely interesting the idea of European trench style warfare taking place on American soil. The books starts with the Assassination of The archduke of the Astro-Hungarian empire Franz Ferdinand. With tensions between The US and the Confederacy high each side was almost eager for war. Told through many perspectives the book has a lot of characters, which other reviewers seems to hate as they thought it made the story convoluted but I thought it was an incredible way to show the full scope of the war and sort of display how many people really were touched by this war. I did wish we got more points of view from the real life characters we see such as confederate president Woodrow Wilson or an old General Custer, but the points of view are limited to characters that weren’t actually real.
  One of the bonuses of haven’t multiple points of view is the book was able to show off the new method of war that were introduced. We see this technology highlighted in some of my favorite scenes in the book. This includes a scene that has a confederate squad take in a US tank where the confederate soldiers are baffled by sheer power and destruction that a was able to cause and it caused them to fear what other atrocities the war has in store for them. Another one of these scenes is a dogfight that shows how aerial combat can be so crucial to getting the edge over an opponent.
  Though this book only covers the beginning of the war it is still an incredibly engaging read from start to finish the switching points of few keep the events of the war fresh and interesting while accurately portraying the horror of warfare and its effect on the The everyday person. If you enjoy history then you will find the gold that this book has into a believable alternate history novel. The only complaint I would give it is that some scenes can drag a little to long and that if the scene goes on to long without action the point of view can become boring.
  
• 
  Bert

  Great concept, but I’m not going to keep reading the series.
  Too many characters and storylines.
  Would have been much better if I had just been one book.
• 
  Christopher Lutz

  The War to End All Wars consumes North America!
  
  Continuing the alternate history of How Few Remain, in which the Confederacy won the Civil War, The Great War: American front imagines a First World War where the USA and CSA meet for the third time on the battlefield. Machine guns, armored cars, and airplanes replacing the strategies of the previous century. The chaos and international defense pacts in Europe now involve North America, as fighting rages in the US, CS, and Canada. In addition a workers revolution begins to stir, primarily among the African American population in the south, ready to rise up against their white oppressors.
  
  Another great what if novel by Turtledove, who paints with a wide brush, encompassing many points of view and many individual stories, but it never feels overwhelming. If you enjoy studying history, and the thought experiment of alternate history, I recommend it.
• 
  Charles

  This is another book I was hoping to like a lot more, especially after the opening of the series. But wheras that volume included ample interesting and easily identifiable chapters using historical figures, this one tries to cover a vast military front -- from western Canada to the east, from Oklahoma to Maine, and many points in between -- with much less easily recognized characters. So the problem is trying to figure out who is who, Reb or Yank, Reb ally or Yank ally, from one page to the next. And for very little payoff since as in Europe, WW I turns into a lengthy stalemate across a massive front, with the only significant event occurring in the final pages, to set up the sequel. But I am hooked, so will eventually pursue the series subsequent volumes.
• 
  Patti

  This novel is the sequel to How Few Remain. In these novels, Turtledove supposes that the Confederacy won the Civil War and follows the course of history in a North American continent that is now divided into three separate countries.
  
  World War I is beginning in this novel. Led by President Woodrow Wilson, the Confederate States of America (CSA), along with Canada have aligned themselves with Britain, France and Japan. Theodore Roosevelt is the President of The United States of America (USA) and has formed an alliance with Germany. The USA prepares to fight a war on three fronts: both in the north and south, as well as in the Pacific Ocean, all the while protecting their harbors on the Atlantic Coast.
  
  To read my full review, please see:
  https://thoughtsfromthemountaintop.co...
• 
  Nancy

  I love alternative history novels, and Harry Turtledove writes some of the best.
  
  American Front reminds me of the US during the Trump era.
  -People ignore blatant racism.
  -The winner of the war--or election--writes the history.
  -Ignorance keeps people in their social group no matter hurtful it may be to themselves.
  
  The first time I read American Front, I would have never dreamed our country would have elected Donald Trump or gone through the Jan 2021 Uprising. However, when I look at my three bullet points, those were true when I first picked it up. I shouldn't have been surprised.
  
  On an aside, always be wary of people wanting to burn books. If you don't put a book on a list, it might die from obscurity. List a book, and you will only draw attention to it.
• 
  Kathy KS

  I had some issues with this Turtledove, even though I've enjoyed some in the past. Almost too many characters and he jumps back and forth between them in little short vignettes. For most of the book I struggle to remember who and what was going on.
  
  Besides that, it is interesting to imagine a world with a separate CSA and how things might have been. Based on the characters in the book and their stories, I think I'd want to live in Canada then!
  
  Not for those offended by a look at racial discrimination, especially in the 1910s, but in a world where there still is a CSA.
• 
  Pepa Hřebec

  Definitely a great war novel. Offers a good perspective from various angles of different countries through the eyes of their citizens. The book covers both soldiers and peasants, but kinda leaves out almost all political figures. The "amount" of perspective was, to be honest, somewhat overwhelming, because the sheer amount of personalities involved was a bit too high. But to sum it all up, if you like history or politics, definitely give it a try.
• 
  George Flannary

  Great book but needs more about the rest of the world
  
  The work just needed more on the rest of the war and not just the parts where the USA is involved. Very little is mentioned about the European western and eastern fronts. No mention of the Ottoman Empire being involved at all. It’s a great group of stories, some coming together in the end.
• 
  Samantha

  Written well enough to make World War 1 interesting. Harry Turtledove has a very interesting take on alternate history and the ending has me itching to get the second book so I can find out what happens with "De Revolution!"
• 
  Dan

  An interesting twist on world history. After the South wins the civil war in book one, how does ww1 go? Once again turtledove delivers a story with no stars, no hero’s, just as a reporter, with good and righteousness seen from each perspective.
• 
  Tim

  A good read
  
  Interesting alternative history given how history can revolve around particular events. It was difficult to decide who to be in favour of, but I still lean towards the USA in a conflict with the CSA.
• 
  Marco

  Didn't enjoy it as much as the first book in the series. The book spreads itself a bit too thin for my liking, following a way too vast cast of characters who are - quite literally - all over the map. Definitely will be waiting for a while before picking up the next book in the series.
• 
  eric quinn

  A part of the How few remain Alternate History world....really really good.