The United States of Atlantis - Hardcover

Turtledove, Harry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 045146236X ISBN 13: 9780451462367

Publisher: Roc Hardcover, 2008

Synopsis

Imperialistic England has driven the French from Atlantis and seized the continent's eastern coastal town, prompting Victor Radcliff, leader of the revolutionaries, to preserve the freedom of the Atlantean people at all costs.

About this title

About the Author

Harry Turtledove—the New York Times bestselling author of numerous alternate history novels, including The Guns of the South, How Few Remain, and the Worldwar quartet—has a Ph.D. in Byzantine history. Nominated numerous times for the Nebula Award, he has won the Hugo, Sidewise, and John Esthen Cook Awards. He lives with his wife and children in California.

Reviews

Several years after the events of 2007s Opening Atlantis, Victor Radcliff, now middle-aged, is called upon to lead the Atlantis colonies fight for independence from England. Victor, aided by his ex-slave friend Blaise, agrees to train and lead the ragtag colonial army against experienced British soldiers under Generals Howe and Cornwallis. Between battles, Victor and his friends debate questions of politics and religion, particularly the troubling dilemma of slavery. Readers familiar with the American Revolution will find analogues to Benjamin Franklin and Benedict Arnold as well as real figures, such as Marquis de la Fayette and Thomas Paine, and elements of real battles of the American Revolution. Victor excels as a general, but makes one personal error that sharply ramps up his stake in the developing conflict and opens the door for a third book. (Dec.)
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*Starred Review* Victor Ratcliff would rather stay home on his farm, raise crops, and console his wife for the loss of their children. But his military leadership in expelling the French and Spanish from Atlantis makes him an obvious candidate to lead a rebellion against the British crown when it restricts Atlantean trade with settlements in Terranova (i.e., North America). The course of the ensuing war is very much like that of the American Revolution in terms of battles won and lost, shortages of everything, and complex—nay, convoluted—politics. Generals Howe and Cornwallis oppose Ratcliff, and the Marquis de la Fayette and the Baron von Steuben help him. But the marquis we recall didn’t supply Washington with a “colored” bedwarmer, who in due course bore him a son, as Ratcliff’s marquis does. The birth brings Ratcliff a whole new set of problems, private and public, not the least of which arise from the fact that his new fatherhood bolsters his inclination to push harder than ever for the abolition of slavery in Atlantis, though many fellow Atlanteans are determined to defend it unto death. Stay tuned for the third volume of Turtledove’s admirable new alternate history to find out whether conflict is irrepressible. --Roland Green

Edition details

• Publisher: Roc Hardcover
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 045146236X
• ISBN 13: 9780451462367
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 448