- Hardcover: 330 pages
- Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd; First Edition First Printing edition (6 April 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0340689196
- ISBN-13: 978-0340689196
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,655,509 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Stars and Stripes in Peril
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Harry Harrison has been publishing science fiction for half a century; this novel appears in 2000, the year of his 75th birthday. His 1998 Stars and Stripes Forever was a foray into alternative history at the time of the US Civil War. An opportunistic British invasion is so badly bungled that it unites warring Union and Confederate forces against the common enemy, and the course of events is rousingly changed.
Now it's 1863 and perfidious Albion is making a comeback via the Pacific, establishing a Mexican beachhead and planning attacks on united America's "soft underbelly" in the Gulf of Mexico. Gurkha and Sepoy troops build roads while sweaty white officers express nostalgia for England: "I despair of ever seeing her blissfully cold and fog-shrouded shores again."
An early coup of misdirection makes the British advance seem unstoppable--but America forges ahead with new guns and naval armour, and General Robert E Lee devises an audacious counterblow. What better way to disrupt Britain's wicked schemes than to strike at her own rebellious province of Ireland?
Harrison, an American, perhaps overdoes the lofty dignity of figures like Abraham Lincoln, while showing British politicians with their full complement of warts. But the breathless, headlong action sweeps you away as battle is planned and at last joined. Even hardened English patriots will feel a sense of wish-fulfilment at the possibility that America may solve the "Irish Question" for them. A rapid-paced, slightly slapdash and unfailingly energetic adventure in unhistory--all great fun. --David Langford --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Amazon.co.uk Review
Harry Harrison has been publishing science fiction for half a century; this novel appears in 2000, the year of his 75th birthday. His 1998 Stars and Stripes Forever was a foray into alternative history at the time of the US Civil War. An opportunistic British invasion is so badly bungled that it unites warring Union and Confederate forces against the common enemy, and the course of events is rousingly changed.
Now it's 1863 and perfidious Albion is making a comeback via the Pacific, establishing a Mexican beachhead and planning attacks on united America's "soft underbelly" in the Gulf of Mexico. Gurkha and Sepoy troops build roads while sweaty white officers express nostalgia for England: "I despair of ever seeing her blissfully cold and fog-shrouded shores again."
An early coup of misdirection makes the British advance seem unstoppable--but America forges ahead with new guns and naval armour, and General Robert E. Lee devises an audacious counterblow. What better way to disrupt Britain's wicked schemes than to strike at her own rebellious province of Ireland?
Harrison, an American, perhaps overdoes the lofty dignity of figures like Abraham Lincoln, while showing British politicians with their full complement of warts. But the breathless, headlong action sweeps you away as battle is planned and at last joined. Even hardened English patriots will feel a sense of wish-fulfilment at the possibility that America may solve the "Irish Question" for them... A rapid-paced, slightly slapdash and unfailingly energetic adventure in unhistory--all great fun. --David Langford
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First Sentence
The two British officers sat at the table on the veranda, sawing industriously at the tough steaks before them. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
The two British officers sat at the table on the veranda, sawing industriously at the tough steaks before them. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Part two of Harrison`s trilogy is, if anything, even worse than part one in it`s portrayal of stupid Britishers versus clever Americans. I am not giving anything away by telling that the British don`t succeed with anything as the book plods to it`s foregone conclusion, even a 19th century version of Sean Connery as 007 gets killed. It is pathetic!. OK, it is supposed to be an alternate reality. Well it is certainly alternate, reality it is not. 1)I can find no evidence of an historical USS Avenger. It is an invention of the author.If Harrison is going to make up warships to suit himself, he may as well give his Americans Polaris submarines and be done with it. 2)American ironclad monitors of 1864 were so underpowerd and unseaworthy they wold have been virtually incapable of crossing the Atlantic. When one did in the late 1860`s it arrived in Le Havre with a crew so seasick they could hardly stand, much less fight a battle. Technicalities like this are simply ignored. 3)The American invasion fleet swans across the Atlantic un-challeged and un-noticed by the biggest navy in the world This is beyond belief. 4)On land the British Army are presented as cardboard cyphers to be shot down at will by American marksmen and Gatling guns Never mind that Gatlings weren`t adopted by the US Army until 1866 or that the British possessed the Whitworth breech-loader field gun,which would have made mincemeat of the Americans, Gatling guns and all. This is a poor book. If you want to read it, borrow it from the library as I did, do not waste your money on buying it.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I enjoyed the first book in the series. But the problem is that the story is only accurate if you assume the British are brain dead.
As a Brit (and proud of it), the ideal that the first book was a bloody nose for the UK is quite plausible. The battle of Iron Clads is such that the Wooden Navy of the rest of the world would crumble, although not as simplistically as 1 ship vs the whole British fleet, which is suggested by the books.
The problem with the sequel is that the British have not learned anything. As the rulers of most of the world (at that time) the British conquerered lands by dicipline and in most cases evolution. However, in the second book, they have learned nothing. Whilst the US seems to have molded into a huge coherent democracy, overnight. Whilst it is true that it could be possible, the author is expecting the reader to belive that there was sufficient infrastructure in the US to divert forces to attack on two major fronts, in the seas, and still have time to organise an apathetic resistance movemement into an army to conquere and invader that isn't actively going after it. Then the icing on the cake, a covert counter offensive to persuade the Irish to fight the UK.
Ok, at this point I gave up. Read it if you must, but don't blame me if you wonder why you did at the end.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
After roundly defeating the British and Canadians in book one of the series, in book two we get the inevitable British counterattack. As an entertainment vehicle “Stars and Stripes in Peril” is quite good. It’s reasonably well written and there is lots of fast-paced action. There is also a lot of detail on the technical innovations that were revolutionising life at the time.
What lets it down is the marrying of modern morality to nineteenth century politics, resulting in a triumph of patriotism over Human nature (and historical fact). If you’re an American, this is an affirming book that will make you feel good. If you’re not, then at the least you will find it pretentious. The USA, it’s institutions and allies, are all depicted as being wonderful. Their opponents and detractors are all made out to be proud, prejudiced, or just plain stupid. Frankly, you can tell after twenty pages that the “Stars and Stripes” isn’t going to be in any kind of peril at all.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A poorly plotted and characterised story with anti-British bias
Simply put, this is not alternative history fiction. The is American war fantasy. The initial 'what-if? Read more
Published on 16 Sep 2008 by Pete W.
The only bad thing Harrison has ever written
I enjoyed everything else I have ever read by Harry Harrison, with the sole exception of the Stars and Stripes series, which comprises
1) "Stars and Stipes Forever"... Read more
1) "Stars and Stipes Forever"... Read more
Published on 15 Jun 2006 by Marshall Lord
A darn good read - even if you're British!
This is the second book of a trilogy set in an alternative reality where the war between the States finished early due to an act of war by the British. Read more
Published on 3 April 2001 by Big Frank
Predictable but still engaging
"Stars and Stripes In Peril" is the second in a planned trilogy about North and South uniting in the midst of the Civil War to repel a British attack. Read more
Published on 16 Mar 2001
Grand alternate history.
This is an epic series which, in the course of 3 books, will have ended the American civil war, abolished slavery, granted Ireland independence from Britain and imposed a peace... Read more
Published on 1 Aug 2000 by Holly N. Ireland
A terrible book with pantomine characters
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, Harry Harrison is persumably engagin in some rather long-winded joke. A book that has one-dimensional characters - Good Americans (from both the USA and... Read more
Published on 20 Jun 2000 by Tim62
A bad book is a bad book whatever your "patriotic" bias
This book should be judged simply on how well it is written not whether you are an American Patriot or English villain. Read more
Published on 12 Jun 2000
...rousing and unapologetic patriotic American fiction.
As the single most defining event of American history, the Civil War remains the most popular topic in alternate history. Read more
Published on 24 April 2000 by egadams@kalamazoo.net
Groan
I am a big fan of alternate histories.. I enjoy the author taking me through subtle changes that lead to unpredicatble outcomings. Read more
Published on 29 Mar 2000
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