American Empire: The Center Cannot Hold has not yet been reviewed at ParaNormalRomance Reviews.
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"Engaging alternative history"
Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted July 7, 2002 on The Best Reviews
SummaryIn this spectacular, thought-provoking epic of alternate
history, Harry Turtledove has created an unparalleled
vision of social upheaval, war, and cutthroat politics in a
world very much like our own—but with dramatic differences.
It is 1924—a time of rebuilding, from the slow
reconstruction of Washington's most honored monuments to
the reclamation of devastated cities in Europe and Canada.
In the United States, the Socialist Party, led by Hosea
Blackford, battles Calvin Coolidge to hold on to the Powell
House in Philadelphia. And it seems as if the Socialists
can do no wrong, for the stock market soars and America
enjoys prosperity unknown in a half century. But as old
names like Custer and Roosevelt fade into history, a new
generation faces new uncertainties.
The Confederate States, victorious in the War of Secession
and in the Second Mexican War but at last tasting defeat in
the Great War, suffer poverty and natural calamity. The
Freedom Party promises new strength and pride. But if its
chief seizes the reins of power, he may prove a dangerous
enemy for the hated U.S.A. Yet the United States take
little note. Sharing world domination with Germany, they
consider events in the Confederacy of little consequence.
As the 1920s end, calamity casts a pall across the
continent. With civil war raging in Mexico, terrorist
uprisings threatening U.S. control in Canada, and an
explosion of violence in Utah, the United States are rocked
by uncertainty.
In a world of occupiers and the occupied, of simmering
hatreds, shattered lives, and pent-up violence, the center
can no longer hold. And for a powerful nation, the ultimate
shock will come when a fleet of foreign aircraft rain death
and destruction upon one of the great cities of the United
States. . . .
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