Book review: Southern Victory / Timeline-191 by Harry Turtledove

Alternate history, also called counterfactual or “what if?” history, is a genre that can be very interesting to read and immensely intriguing. It is also a genre that is immensely difficult to write, or rather to write well. As an historian, I try to explain why past events happened and why they transpired the way they did. That is in fact the whole point of the ‘science’ of history.

Harry Turtledove is himself an historian by training and has a Ph.D. in Byzantine history from UCLA. He is also one of the most prolific authors around; in his close to twenty years as a full-time writer, he has published almost a hundred(!) novels, many of them 600+ page tomes, both adult and YA, in different genres such as science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, and – most prominently – alternate history. Unlike some authors, however, who seem to value quantity over quality, Turtledove is actually able to churn out really well-written books almost as fast as his fans are able to devour them.

Turtledove has been dubbed “the Master of alternate history” and “the Wizard of If”, and rightly so. Not only are his books generally well-written, they are also based on extensive research (whereever he gets the time; one wonders of the man ever sleeps) and a profound understanding of how history works.

Perhaps the finest example of Turtledove’s alternate history writing is an 11-book series which has no official title; the fans, however, have given it various names. One is Southern Victory, because it is based on one of the two most popular PODs among alternate historians: the South winning the American Civil War (the other of course being a Nazi victory in World War II). Another title often used to descibe the series is Timeline-191, since the South are able to win the war because, unlike in our timeline, enemy forces do not find a copy of Robert E. Lee’s Special Order 191.

The series starts out with the stand-alone ‘prequel’ How Few Remain, telling the story of the ‘Second War between the States’ in the 1880s, caused by the Confederacy buying some land from the near-bankrupt Empire of Mexico to gain access to the Pacific, and goes on to describe the rise of two great powers rather than one on the North American continent – the USA and the CSA – and the wars they fight against each other as parts of one long, ongoing conflict throughout the first half of the 20th century. The Great War trilogy (American Front, Walk in Hell, Breakthroughs) tells the story of a World War I that is both very different from and very similar to the one we know from our history books; the trenches are not in France and Belgium, but in Virginia and Texas. The American Empire trilogy (Blood and Iron, The Center Cannot Hold, The Victorious Opposition) goes on to recount the interwar years, with the brewing enmity between gloating winners and downtrodden and humiliated losers, massive economic depression and the subsequent rise of fascism, culminating in an even bigger and more awful World War II, as depicted in the Settling Accounts tetralogy (Return Engagement, Drive to the East, The Grapple, In at the Death).

All the books are written with multiple viewpoint characters, and this is a big part of their strength. We follow the fates of individuals throughout the continent, from privates to generals and from peasants to presidents, some of them for brief periods and some across three decades. We watch them change and grow (some of them literally), we inevitably become engaged in their lives – and eventually we even start to think like them, ‘good’ and ‘bad guys’ alike. Because Turtledove understands that history isn’t black and white, good vs. evil, he manages to humanize even the vilest of criminals and make us understand how someone could end up doing the things they do; the mark of a true literary master.

Turtledove is quite obviously a war buff, which becomes very clear in his sometimes quite detailed description of the mechanics of war and his almost eerily realistic fight scenes. The strongest point of the series, though, is the way it shows us how much society changed – technology as well as peoples’s mindsets – in just one generation. It truly was the birth of the modern world. In order to write convincing alternate history, one has to understand the basic mechanisms of history, and considering how history might have turned otherwise can provide a different and very fruitful perspective when working with ‘real’ history. With Timeline-191, Turtledove provides just such a perspective, and this brilliant series should be required reading for all students of 20th century history, as well as a must-read for all alternate history buffs.

Southern Victory / Timeline-191 (1997-2007) by Harry Turtledove. Approx. 5500 pp. All 11 books available on play.com

Special Order 191

Movie review: Iron Man 2

The Invincible Iron Man is back. With a vengeance.

After defeating his father’s old business partner turned evil rogue, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is now focusing his energy on preserving world peace, essentially by using his armoured suit as the individual equivalent of a nuclear deterrent. The authorities, however, led by an obnoxious senator (Garry Shandling), seem to think that this powerful weapon belongs to the American people (i.e. the US military), not to one man or his private corporation. Stark, naturally, disagrees – as it later turns out, both because of a sense of ownership and – primarily – for more personal reasons.

This is not Starks’ only concern, though. Rival weapons manufacturer Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) is also a growing concern for Stark Industries – and as if that wasn’t enough: While he is busy fighting both the government, the competition, and his personal issues, Stark’s past once again comes back to haunt him, this time in the form of the son of a former colleague of his father’s.

The first Iron Man movie was my favourite among the ‘new bunch’ of film versions made by Marvel and Paramount. It brought a refreshingly self-ironic approach to the superhero genre, managing to find the perfect blend of a relatively dark storyline and even darker humour. I am glad to say that the sequel also delivers and all those accounts – even more so than its predecessor.

Downey is perfect as the brilliant and brilliantly narcissistic billionaire, but the whole cast around him is what makes this movie so enjoyable: Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, the pithy PA with more balls than most of the men in the movie put together; Mickey Rourke as Ivan Vanko, the deranged evil genius; Don Cheadle as Lt. Col. James Rhodes, long-time friend and the Jiminy Cricket to Stark’s Pinocchio. A part he took over from Terrence Howard and – no offence to Howard – adds a lot more substance to.

To me, though, the most enjoyable performance, – apart from Downey himself – was Rockwell as Justin Hammer. He manages to switch effortlessly between complete deadpan and an almost Tom Cruise-like creepy craziness, and steals every single scene he is in.

A word of praise for director Jon Favreau: Not only has he proven – twice now – that he can put together a thoroughly entertaining big budget blockbuster action flick; he also manages to deliver an enjoyable performance as Stark’s chauffeur sidekick Happy Hogan.

Not much to say about the special effects: they are as good as could be expected from a movie of this calibre and budget size – which is to say, very good.

Like two of the previous Marvel movies (Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk), this movie also has the double function of building up to the announced Avengers movie. There are two more movies to come before that – Captain America and Thor, both scheduled for release in the summer of 2011 – to complete the cast. Watch out for the nice little easter eggs in this movie (and of course for the obligatory Stan Lee cameo). Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and his organizsation S.H.I.E.L.D. also feature much more heavily in this movie than in the previous two, and we get more of the background story for the organization. Hopefully, even more is to come next year.

Finally, in both Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, there was an extra scene inserted at the end of the credits. This is the case again with Iron Man 2. Do yourself a favour and stay in your seat those 6-7 minutes. It is definitely worth it.

Iron Man 2 (2010) Starring Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sam Rockwell, Mickey Rourke, Samuel L. Jackson, Jon Favreau. Written by Justin Theroux. Directed by Jon Favreau. Rated PG-13. 2 h 04 min.