Stars And Stripes Forever (1999) - Plot & Excerpts
(This review encompasses all three books of the series)It's porn for war history geeks: Sherman and Lee leading a re-united, high-tech America against... the British. A fun and lightweight romp through an well-researched alternate history, the book starts in America but visits locations all over the world. Accompanying us as the lead characters are none other than the likes of Lincoln, Sherman, and RE Lee. John Stuart Mill provides political commentary. The Duke of Wellington even makes a cameo appearance!Harry Harrison writes a really fun trilogy here. I was dubious at first -- the guy who wrote the Stainless Steel Rat books can also write alt-history? But I was pleasantly surprised. The research had been done, and all the places that history diverged made sense. The book ends up giving you the best of what a good alt-history book is supposed to deliver. By the end of it, the author has led you, step by step, to an amazingly plausible world.The premise hinges on one major event: the Trent affair. Historically, the Union navy boarded a British ship (the Trent) at sea, and took two Confederate emissaries that were en route to Europe to campaign for support. The English government nearly went to war with the US over it; it was apparently only the intervention of Prince Albert that prevented that. Albert died shortly thereafter. If this seems farfetched, remember that it was only 50 years prior that the English had whupped the US, and it was the height of the English empire.In Harrison's alternative, Albert dies early, and isn't able to intervene in the Trent affair. Events quickly diverge from our timeline there. The only other thing that seemed a-historical was a new face in the American military, who pushed for high-tech solutions rather than "the old way". Apparently, when repeating rifles were developed, they were *not* immediately adopted by the armies of the world. An argument *against* using them was that *it would cause the soldiers to waste bullets*. Yes.Sure, the characters are virtually plastic caricatures of the historical figures they're supposed to represent. The grasp of history, while factually thorough, is naive; nations and their heroes are the principal actors in world events. But it's goddamn *fun* to read about Sherman going on a commando mission with a Russian noble and an American spy. It's a blast to read about cunningly planned invasions, naval engagements between ships 50 years before their time, and battles that never were.In fact, there are a ton of "oh that's awesome" moments that I am not going to reveal, because they are more awesome when they are revealed throughout the story. Suffice it to say, Harrison paints an extremely rosy picture of what would have happened if the North and South had reunited halfway through the civil war against a common enemy, and had been more forward-thinking in adopting new practices and technology.A good, fun read, if you're into military history.
There are books surely that are fun to hate and this is one of them. By far the worst example of alternate history out there Harrison, uncharacteristically of himself appears to leave out research, common sense, and even logic as he spews out this unforgivably terrible piece of trash. The premise being the Trent Affair of 1862 leads to British intervention on the side of the Confederacy during the Civil War, subsequently a fleet of ships (all incorrectly named, manned, gunned, armored, and just about everything else) mistakenly attacks a Confederate fort. In perhaps the most laughably implausible next step the British shrug off their mistake and decide to not only attack the Union but the Confederacy as well because eh what the hell. What happens next is the Americans (both the Confederacy and Union have allied to one another, conveniently forgetting the whole we're fighting a war thing) never make a mistake, the British never do anything right and the war works out well for everyone save the sinister British Empire of course. Ultimately about 200 something pages of Newt Gingrich's boyhood fanfic, and a waste of paper, but worse is the tremendous waste of Harry Harrison, at one time a fantastic writer, whose fall is sadly speedily accomplished in this work.
What do You think about Stars And Stripes Forever (1999)?
This book plays with an interesting what if. What if, during the US Civil War, the British invaded both the North and the South? In this book, the North and South set aside their differences to face a common enemy. Unsurprisingly, they stomp the British invasion and kick the British out of Canada, to boot. Given the size of the combined armies, their experiences in battle, and the technological developments (rapid-firing rifles and ironclads, for example) that had occurred during the Civil War, this seems like a reasonable outcome.The characters are drawn closely from historical sources, using speeches and letters from the participants to form as much of their dialogue as possible.
—Jim Holthaus
