The Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove If white supremicists from South Africa were to get ahold of a time machine going back exactly 150 years, what would they do with it? Maybe they would go back to an era in which white supremacy had a stronghold- the american south. And once there, they would do their best to manipulate the civil war such that the south would win. Turtledove proposes these maybes, having his time travelers arm the confederacy with AK-47s. The confederacy wins the war. But having won it, the time travelers are in for a surprise- the south is not as stuck on supremacy as they had thought.
Turtledove admits to portraying a sympathetic portrait of Lee- he feels that this is how Lee was. This portrayal is integral to the plot. The plot is captivating, as is, for the most part, Turtledove's style. But the dialouge is sadly lacking. When troops concede, Turtledove has them do so with unrealistic language. Lincoln's speeches also seem unrealistic- in his defeat, Lincoln repeats himself over and over.
Happy reading.
