Synopses & Reviews
From the master of alternate history comes an epic of the second Civil War. It was an epoch of glory and success, of disaster and despair....
1881: A generation after the South won the Civil War, America writhed once more in the bloody throes of battle. Furious over the annexation of key Mexican territory, the United States declared total war against the Confederate States of America in 1881.
But this was a new kind of war, fought on a lawless frontier where the blue and gray battled not only each other but the Apache, the outlaw, the French, and the English. As Confederate General Stonewall Jackson again demonstrated his military expertise, the North struggled to find a leader who could prove his equal. In the Second War Between the States, the times, the stakes, and the battle lines had changed — and so would history...
Review
"The novel displays the compelling combination of rigorous historiography and robust storytelling that readers have come to expect from Turtledove, who once again deftly integrates surprising yet believable social, economic, military and political developments. Turtledove's America isn't the escapist fantasy of much alternate history. It's a darker, grimier world, in which much that we have taken for granted has vanished or will never arise save at a terrible price in blood." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Turtledove has established himself as one of the major writers of alternate history fiction, and this story of a second Civil War following the South's victory in the 1860s is entertaining and full of interesting speculation about how things might have turned out." Barnes & Noble.com
Review
"Turtledove is one of the acknowledged masters of the alternate history sub-genre....This story bursts forth from the first page and pushes ahead with the force of a speeding train. How Few Remain is a compelling and entertaining story and a thoughtful study of some of the core issues of American history." SF Site
Synopsis
Alternate History is historical fiction that examines the ramifications of a change or changes in known history. Alternate History can use science-fiction devices — such as time-travel — to change history, or it can simply pick a point where, had things merely happened differently (for example: Abraham Lincoln decided not to go to the theater that night, or Henry VIII stayed married to his first wife), history might have taken another path altogether.
Alternate History without Science Fiction
Turtledove re-creates a World War I where the Confederate States of America and the United States of America are on opposite sides, and the battles take place on American soil.
The stand alone novel How Few Remain is a prequel to this series, setting the stage for an alliance between the United States and Germany, while the Confederacy is allied with Britain and France.
About the Author
Harry Turtledove was born in Los Angeles in 1949. After flunking out of Caltech, he earned a Ph.D. in Byzantine history from UCLA. He has taught ancient and medieval history at UCLA, Cal State Fullerton, and Cal State L.A., and he has published a translation of a ninth-century Byzantine chronicle, as well as several scholarly articles. He is also a Hugo Award-winning and critically acclaimed full-time writer of science fiction and fantasy. His alternate history works have included several short stories and the novels A World of Difference, The Guns of the South (a speculative novel of the Civil War), and the Worldwar tetralogy that began in 1994 with Worldwar: In the Balance. He is currently working on his next project: an alternate history series about the Great War. He is married to fellow novelist Laura Frankos. They have three daughters: Alison, Rachel, and Rebecca.