Stars and Stripes in Peril (Stars & Stripes) [Paperback]

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

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.

‘The tight writing and grasp of the period’s technology is impressive.’

‘Verve and pace carry it through.’

‘One of science fiction’s most prolific and accomplished craftsmen.’

This pacy novel is an ingenious contribution to the burgeoning genre of "what if?" history.’

‘The tight writing and grasp of the period's technology is impressive.'

‘Verve and pace carry it through.'

‘One of science fiction's most prolific and accomplished craftsmen.'

This pacy novel is an ingenious contribution to the burgeoning genre of "what if?" history.'

This title follows a what if path of the British Empire pitted against her American colonies. The second title in the trilogy, only a brilliant plan by General Robert E. Lee enables the USA to attack the British forces where they least expect it and broaden the war for independence.

Harry Harrison is one of the grand masters of science fiction. Besides his action stories - he is the creator of THE STAINLESS STEEL RAT - he has become a leading author of the alternate-world novel. An authority on the American Civil War, his REBEL IN TIME is an exciting look at a different possible ending to that war. In A TRANSATLANTIC TUNNEL, HURRAH! he takes a light-hearted look at a modern world where the Americans lost their 1776 revolution and Britain rules the world supreme. This trilogy examines the other side of that coin, a world in which America and Britain confront each other at the dawn of an era of mass destruction.