I’ve been feeling like reading some Turtledove recently, but I’m a lot more mixed on him than I’ve been in the past. I read nearly this entire series back in high school and thought it might be worth revisiting.

The premise of this book (World War I in a timeline where the Confederacy successfully seceded) is super interesting. Woodrow Wilson as Confederate POTUS feels plausible, as do a lot of the other details, and it’s interesting to see how the story plays out.

That said, I struggle with whether Turtledove is depicting racism or just using a lot of slurs because the setting allows for it. Likewise, war is hell, but it doesn’t mean I need all the (sometimes literally) gory details. I’ll stick with the series for now, but it lands differently these days.

• The Great War
• Harry Turtledove
• alternate history
• racism
• war
• violence