Guest Review: Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove

by John W Oliver published: May 7, 2010 No Comments

G is for Guns of the South
Guest review by John W. Oliver, Writer.

This Book Is About

Northern Virginia is ragged and ill-equipped. The battle of Gettysburg has broken the back of the Confederacy and decimated its manpower. Then Andries Rhoodie, a strange man with an unplaceable accent, approaches Lee with an extraordinary offer. Rhoodie demonstrates an amazing rifle; its rate of fire is incredible, its lethal efficiency breathtaking–and Rhoodie guarantees unlimited quantities to the Confederates.

The name of the weapon is the AK-47.

My Thoughts On This Book

In it’s very nature, historical fiction is speculative. We often have sources of how it was to live in times past and of the details in their lives. We even have journals of people’s experiences and ideas. However, we don’t really know the people who’s names we recognize in our history books. In order to fill the pages of historical fiction, we speculate. In Guns of the South though, the author speculates a little more than most authors.

Americans are familiar with the Civil War, or the War Between the States, where the South tried to secede from the Union over a number of issues, particularly the issue of sovereignty. However, the novel speculates what would have happened if the South had won, following General Robert E. Lee and the resulting nation into the inevitable pressures following the war. Of course, the means by which they win their freedom are AK-47′s supplied by a group from the future.

As you can imagine, one of the themes explored through the novel is slavery and racism–in both the 19th-century and our time. Turtledove is both accurate and respectful in his depiction. I enjoyed how he went about exploring these themes and imagining what would have happened to slavery in the years following the war.

Most of all, I enjoyed being immersed in the period and learning about these figures. Even the fictional characters give you a glimpse at the everyday folk of this time. General Lee is definitely the star of the show, though, and I loved watching his character develop and grow as the situation changed around him. Turtledove does an excellent job at catching the spirit of the time and imagining the what-might-have-beens.

Because of the science fiction elements, this book might not be for all historical fiction fanatics. However, if you can swallow the idea of time travel in your story, you’re in for a sweet treat with this story. Also, Turtledove goes on to conjecture an entire timeline of novels off of this diversion all the way through to World War Two.