- Hardcover: 484 pages
- Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd; First Edition edition (6 Jan 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0340715472
- ISBN-13: 978-0340715475
- Product Dimensions: 23.8 x 15.6 x 4.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 747,182 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Harry Turtledove marches on through history with The Great War: Walk in Hell. In his alternate timeline, the Confederate States of America won the Civil War, aided by Britain and France. In the 1880s (How Few Remain), Americans fought again after the CSA acquired parts of Mexico--and the CSA won again. When World War One begins with Archduke Ferdinand's assassination in 1914 (The Great War: American Front), the 34-state USA under Teddy Roosevelt allies with Imperial Germany and Austria against Britain, France, Russia, Japan, Canada and Woodrow Wilson's CSA. Trenches divide Canada, fierce fighting rages from Tennessee and Kentucky into Pennsylvania, a Mormon uprising against the USA consumes Utah, and a black socialist rebellion distracts the CSA, where slavery has ended but blacks still await full citizenship.
Walk in Hell takes us from autumn, 1915, through 1916. Soldiers, sailors and airmen continue the fight, but much happens behind the lines too. Turtledove's characters include Jewish immigrants who are socialist and antiwar, a widow running a coffee house in CSA-occupied Washington, DC, who passes information to the USA, and two Canadian farmers living under US occupation in Quebec and Manitoba. He vividly conveys the human side of war. When Joe Hammerschmitt gets a shoulder wound in the Virginia trenches:
...pain warred with exultation on his long, thin face. Exultation won. "Got me a hometowner, looks like," he said happily. Half the men up there with him made sympathetic noises; the other half looked frankly jealous. Hammerschmitt was going to be out of the firing line for weeks, maybe months, to come, and they still risked not just death but horrible mutilation every day.Some find Turtledove's cast too large, the story's action too slow. Others complain that Walk in Hell is too similar to his Worldwar series. Alternate history buffs, however, will marvel at his mastery of detail, enjoy following his logic as he pursues military and social developments onward in time, and find it hard to wait for the next in the series. --Nona Vero --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
It's 1915, and the Great War is intensifying, and the time of darkness has come. The slaves of the South have risen against their masters, taken on the creed of Bolshevism and are attacking the Confederacy. But the US remains pinned between their southern rival and the other enemy, Canada.
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George Enos looked across the Mississippi toward Illinois. Read the first page
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George Enos looked across the Mississippi toward Illinois. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
OK, I found this book both fascinating and annoying. Fascinating because I've always been interested in the great "What ifs" in History and they don't come much greater than the Great War. Annoying for a number of reasons I'll detail soon. Assuming you've read the first book but are yet to read this one I'll attempt to review this without spoiling the story.
The action goes on into late 1916 so we're through nearly half the war by the end of the volume. The storytelling is fascinating, showing the action develop largely from the viewpoint of those who are fighting the war. In keeping with both Turtledove's writing style and the nature of the War, a number of pivotal characters die in this volume and I'm expecting some more to go in the next two. Don't take anyone for granted here. Extra characters are introduced and there are a few cameo appearances from people who fought in the First World War but didn't become famous till WWII. The rebellions in both the USA and CSA are drawn to a close and here it is that I have my first problem. For the CSA deal with their rebellion entirely too sensibly for my tastes. In the USA the Mormons are dealt with the way you'd expect a nation to deal with a rebellion during wartime - viciously and stupidly, the same way we dealt with the Irish Rebellion in 1916. But the CSA seems to come over all sensible and this doesn't really make sense. Why are the CSA behaving better than all the other powers? This is the first problem I have.
The second is with the introduction of Tanks. Having seen Hollywood's latest rewriting of History where an American submarine crew do what the British actually did, having heard that the Americans are about to escape from Colditz in a new Hollywood film, something they never did 60 years ago (but, again, the British did), I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to see the USA inventing Tanks. But I find it unforgivable. Tanks were a British invention, a very secret British invention and the idea that both the USA and Britain could simultaneously develop Tanks... well it's ridiculous. It would have been far better to have had the CSA deploy Tanks in America first, having got them from their British Ally.
That's the main reason I downgraded my review to 3 instead of 4. Also annoying, though acceptable, are the tantalising hints of what is happening in Europe. Italy stays neutral, the Irish Rebellion continues past Easter as the rebels are armed by the USA and the French lose Verdun. The last is the first major indication of how a Western front lacking the Canadians and some British would go different to how it went. On the other hand, the Blockade of Germany still continues and that was crucial in winning the war. Though I complain about this, I find it fascinating and really do want to see what will happen. I will by the next book.
Format:Paperback
The second book in the Great War trilogy but the third book in the eleven book series fantasizing about what might have happened had the South won the American Civil war.
I am commited to reading the entire eleven volume epic (I have already bought them all) back-to-back and I am already starting to flag.
Like all series of books there has to be a recap of the story so far. I suppose this is something that publishers insist upon and that's fine provided it is done in a separate chapter which can be skipped or skimmed if you've just read the previous book. In this case the author has chosen to incorporate the recap into the story which, because there are so many characters whose stories are essentially unconnected, is still going on 100 pages into the book. Very annoying.
Overall the book is quite good but just didn't grab my attention in as many places as the previous books in the series.
The next book awaits - onwards and hopefully upwards.
I am commited to reading the entire eleven volume epic (I have already bought them all) back-to-back and I am already starting to flag.
Like all series of books there has to be a recap of the story so far. I suppose this is something that publishers insist upon and that's fine provided it is done in a separate chapter which can be skipped or skimmed if you've just read the previous book. In this case the author has chosen to incorporate the recap into the story which, because there are so many characters whose stories are essentially unconnected, is still going on 100 pages into the book. Very annoying.
Overall the book is quite good but just didn't grab my attention in as many places as the previous books in the series.
The next book awaits - onwards and hopefully upwards.
Format:Hardcover
1915. The USA and Confederate States of America are finding out that wars in the early 20th Century are long and grinding businesses, as this second book in the "Great War" tetralogy unfolds. This book can't be read in isolation, you'll have to get the first one (Great War: American Front) to get any enjoyment from it. Very much the middle book in an engrossing series.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good installment in Turtledove's alternative history series
In "The Great War: Walk in Hell," Harry Turtledove continues his tale of an alternate world in which the United States and Confederate States fight the "war to end all wars. Read more
Published on 2 Aug 2004 by Mark Klobas
Very fascinating and very annoying
OK, I found this book both fascinating and annoying. Fascinating because I've always been interested in the great "What ifs" in History and they don't come much greater... Read more
Published on 1 Dec 2000
Very fascinating and very annoying
OK, I found this book both fascinating and annoying. Fascinating because I've always been interested in the great "What ifs" in History and they don't come much greater... Read more
Published on 1 Dec 2000
Better thatn the first.
Turtledove has made the second installment of his Great War series much better than the first. Before the author had the attention mostly focusing on the war in the trenches and... Read more
Published on 26 Sep 2000
Walk In Heaven;The End Of Alternate History
This is the end of a genre! Alternate history will never be the same again after Turtledove's books, and thank God for that. With Dr. Read more
Published on 1 Sep 1999
Excellent, fun to read. I can't wait for the rest.
I love alternate history and this series on WW1 is excellent. I especially like the way Turtledove weaves in many different characters. Read more
Published on 29 Aug 1999
Better than the first volume, but still slow moving.
I have to admit I was underwhelmed with the first volume, but this second installment is much better. Read more
Published on 28 Aug 1999
Best book out there
my favort writer Harry turtledove has done it again! this is one of the best books i've read. its a must!
Published on 28 Aug 1999
More of the same but still fascinating
"The Great War - Walk in Hell" is the third novel in Harry Turtledove's series about an alternate history following Confederate victory in the American Civil War, and... Read more
Published on 28 Aug 1999
Early 1900s America - What could have been
Turtledove does an excellent job as he continues to take us down the path of an alternate North America during World War I. Read more
Published on 27 Aug 1999
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