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Summary
Summary
A stroke of the pen and history is changed. In 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, determined to avoid war at any cost, signed the Munich Accord, ceding part of Czechoslovakia to Hitler. But the following spring, Hitler snatched the rest of that country and pushed beyond its borders. World War II had begun, and England, after a fatal act of appeasement, was fighting a war for which it was not prepared. Now, in this thrilling, provocative, and fascinating alternate history by Harry Turtledove, another scenario is played out: What if Chamberlain had not signed the accord? What if Hitler had acted rashly, before his army was ready¿would such impatience have helped him or doomed him faster? Here is an action-packed, blow-by-blow chronicle of the war that might have been¿and the repercussions that might have echoed through history¿had Hitler reached too far, too soon, and too fast. Turtledove uses dozens of points of view to tell this story: from American marines serving in Japanese-occupied China to members of a Jewish German family with a proud history of war service to their nation, from ragtag volunteers fighting in the Abraham Lincoln Battalion in Spain to an American woman desperately trying to escape Nazi-occupied territory¿and witnessing the war from within the belly of the beast. A novel that reveals the human face of war while simultaneously riding the twists and turns that make up the great acts of history, Hitler¿s War is the beginning of an exciting new alternate history saga. Here is a tale of powerful leaders and ordinary people, of spies, soldiers, and traitors, of the shifting alliances that draw some together while tearing others apart. At once authoritative, brilliantly imaginative, and hugely entertaining, Hitler¿s War captures the beginning of a very different World War II¿with a very different fate for our world today.
Author Notes
Harry Turtledove was born in Los Angeles, California on June 14, 1949. He received a Ph.D. in Byzantine history from UCLA in 1977. From the late 1970's to the early 1980's, he worked as a technical writer for the Los Angeles County Office of Education. He left in 1991 to become full-time writer.
His first two novels, Wereblood and Werenight, were published in 1979 under the pseudonym Eric G. Iverson because his editor did not think people would believe that Turtledove was his real name. He used this name until 1985 when he published Herbig-Haro and And So to Bed under his real name. He has received numerous awards including the Homer Award for Short Story for Designated Hitter in 1990, the John Esthen Cook Award for Southern Fiction for Guns of the Southand in 1993, and the Hugo Award for Novella for Down in the Bottomlands in 1994.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Alternate historian Turtledove (The Man with the Iron Heart) brings the deprivations of war to life in this vision of a very different WWII. After Konrad Henlein is assassinated in Czechoslovakia in 1938, France and England refuse to condone Hitler's plans for annexation, so he invades instead. American Peggy Druce, caught behind the lines, gets a firsthand look at the period military hardware and nationalistic mindsets that Turtledove so expertly describes, though readers looking for more characterization or plotting may be disappointed. Action in the Spanish Civil War and on the Mongolian border muddy the waters, possibly setting up for a clearer plot in subsequent volumes. Until Turtledove reveals more of the direction this scenario will take, there is little to differentiate it from many of his other novels. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Library Journal Review
The 20th century's world wars have provided Turtledove with ample material for his alternate histories (e.g., "The Great War" tetralogy). His latest series ponders what might have happened if British prime minister Neville Chamberlain had refused to allow German annexation of the Sudetenland in 1938. As in previous books, the author tells his tale through a series of alternating minisagas that follow select fictional and historic characters through his narrative arc. Verdict The author's mastery of the ever-widening ripples that small changes make in history is unchallenged, his storytelling always gripping, and his research impeccable. Certain to appeal to alternate history and World War II aficionados. [Library marketing campaign.] (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Chapter One 20 July 1936--outside Lisbon General José Sanjurjo was a short, heavyset man in his early sixties. He looked from the light plane to the pilot and back again. "Is everything in readiness?" he asked, his tone saying heads would roll if the pilot told him no. Major Juan Antonio Ansaldo didn't tell him anything, not right away. Ansaldo was pacing back and forth, his agitation growing with every stride. He watched as Sanjurjo's aides shoved two large, heavy trunks into the airplane. "Those look heavy," Ansaldo said at last. "They hold the general's uniforms!" an aide said, as if to a simpleton. "On the eve of his victorious march into Madrid, he can't arrive in Burgos without uniforms!" Nervously, Ansaldo lit a cigarette. Who was he, a major, to tell Spain's most senior--and most prestigious--general what to do? He'd placed himself at the disposal of the Spanish state . . . which Sanjurjo would embody, once he flew from Portugal to Burgos to take charge of the rising against the Spanish Republic. When he flew to Burgos? If he flew to Burgos! The city, in north-central Spain, was a long way from Lisbon. The plane, a two-seater, had only so much fuel and only so strong a motor. "General . . ." Ansaldo said. "What is it?" growled the man people called the Lion of the Rif because of his victories in Spanish Morocco. "¡Viva Sanjurjo!" the general's men shouted. "¡Viva España!" Sanjurjo preened . . . as well as a short, heavyset man in his sixties could preen. "Now I know my flag is waving over Spain," he boomed like a courting grouse. "When I hear the Royal March again, I will be ready to die!" That gave Major Ansaldo the opening he needed. "General, I don't want you to die before you get to Spain, before you hear the Royal March again." "What are you talking about?" Sanjurjo demanded. "Sir, those trunks your men put aboard--" "What about them? They're my uniforms, as my aides told you. A man is hardly a man without his uniforms." At the moment, Sanjurjo was wearing a light gray summer-weight civilian suit. He looked and acted quite manly enough for Ansaldo. "They weigh a lot." The pilot gestured. "Look at the pine trees all around the airstrip. I need the plane's full power to take off. I have to make sure I have enough fuel to fly you to Burgos. I don't want anything to happen to you, Señor. Spain needs you too much to take chances." General Sanjurjo frowned--not fearsomely, but thoughtfully. "I can't fly into Burgos like this." He brushed at the gray linen of his sleeve. "Why not, your Excellency? Why not?" Ansaldo asked. "Don't you think the people of Burgos would be delighted--would be honored--to give you anything you need? Aren't there any uniforms in Burgos? God help the rising if that's true!" "God help the rising." Sanjurjo crossed himself. Major Ansaldo followed suit. The general took a gold case from an inside jacket pocket and lit a cigarette of his own. He smoked in abrupt, savage drags. "So you think we'll crash with my uniforms on board, do you?" "When you're flying, you never know," the pilot answered. "That's why you don't want to take any chances you don't have to." Sanjurjo grunted. He took a couple of more puffs on the aromatic Turkish cigarette, then ground it out under his heel. "Luis! Orlando!" he called. "Get the trunks off the plane!" His aides stared as if the Excerpted from Hitler's War by Harry Turtledove All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.