Re: Book reviews
Eric D Johnson (ejohnso8@mason1.gmu.edu)
Sun, 31 Oct 1993 22:20:45 ECT
Just a quick review, I can handle. First off, it is first-rate entertain-
ment, all historicity aside. The plot draws the story nicely along, and
the characters are quite well drawn. And as the story deviates from the
historical record by about page 15, it's hard to argue its historical
merits besides. However, Harry Turtledove is widely recognized as an
expert in what is generally called "speculative fiction" (i.e., what
would happen if...), and he doesn't fail here. He's got an afterward
in which he describes some of his sources; for instance, his portrayal
of General Lee is NOT based on some of the more recent, revisionist
historiography of Lee but is based instead on his own, more romantic
(and somewhat more popular) interpretations of the General, gotten through
a personal study of his writings. I checked his usage of the 47th North
Carolina on a whim, and found that, as he described in the afterward, he
seems to have used the unit records as much as possible (though he does
admit to having made up individual's characters/istics).
All told, I think Mr. Turtledove did a fine job in thinking out
the effects of introducing AK-47s into the Confederate Army. I was es-
pecially impressed at the thought which went into the dynamics between
members of the slave-holding South of the Civil War era and late 20th
(actually early 21st) century white South Africans. He creates some
interesting tensions.
I've got to run, but if anything more significant occurs to me,
I'll append it here. I definitely recommend it, on both entertainment
and historical merits.
--
Eric Johnson