The Guns of the South
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Guns of the South | |
 |
|
| Author | Harry Turtledove |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Alternate history novel |
| Publisher | Ballantine| |
| Publication date | 22 September 1992 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 561 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-345-37675-7, ISBN 0-345-38468-7 |
The Guns of the South (1992, ISBN 0-345-37675-7) is a novel by writer Harry Turtledove.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
An alternate history story set during the American Civil War, the story deals with a group of time-travelling Afrikanerweerstandsbeweging members who supply Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia with AK-47s and small amounts of other supplies (including nitroglycerine tablets for treating Lee's heart condition), leading to a Southern victory in the war.
[edit] Analysis
The story is told alternately from the third-person perspectives of General Lee himself and of First Sergeant Nate Caudell, an actual historical figure who served in the 47th North Carolina. This enables the reader to witness events from both "the top" and "the bottom", on the battlefield in the early part of the book and later in the civilian life of the post-war Confederacy. The realities of the situation gradually reveal themselves as Lee learns more about his dubious allies, while Caudell also hears increasingly disturbing rumors about the situation at Rivington - with the concluding explosive confrontation with the AWB again seen alternately from the two distinct viewpoints.
Turtledove used historical records of an actual Confederate Army unit, the 47th North Carolina, to flesh out his list of characters. All the characters in the book are mentioned with the actual ranks they held in the 47th - including Mollie Bean, who as a woman masqueraded as a male Confederate soldier for most of the War before being wounded and captured by Union forces - as well as their civilian employment if it is known.
[edit] Awards
The book won the John Esten Cooke Award for Southern Fiction in 1993.
[edit] In other science fiction
- Dr. Turtledove has an entire (unrelated) book series, known among fans as Timeline-191, on an alternate history in which the Confederacy won the Civil War. In this series, however, the Confederacy does not win the war through intervention involving time travel. Rather, the famous 'lost orders' are found by other Confederates, meaning that the Union does not learn of Lee's plans. A battle equivalent to the Battle of Antietam results in a decisive Confederate victory.
- The idea of a time traveller bringing advanced weapons to Confederates is also the theme of Harry Harrison's book A Rebel In Time. The two treatments are, however, very different.
- Several of the characters, or at least South African people with the same name, appeared in S. M. Stirling's 2003 novel Conquistador, where they are killed. A copy of the Turtledove book is seen on a bookshelf in Stirling's novel.
[edit] External links
- Americanisms in Harry Turtledove's The Guns of the South, Tatu Ahponen, 2003 (including detailed summary)
- review by Mark Taha
|
|
||
|---|---|---|
| Videssos books | Videssos Cycle | The Misplaced Legion | An Emperor for the Legion | The Legion of Videssos | The Swords of the Legion |
| The Tale of Krispos | Krispos Rising | Krispos of Videssos | Krispos the Emperor | |
| Time of Troubles | The Stolen Throne | Hammer and Anvil | The Thousand Cities | Videssos Besieged | |
| The Bridge of the Separator | ||
| The Race or Tosev timeline series |
Worldwar Tetralogy | In the Balance | Tilting the Balance | Upsetting the Balance | Striking the Balance |
| Colonization | Second Contact | Down to Earth | Aftershocks | |
| Homeward Bound | ||
| Southern Victory or Timeline-191 |
How Few Remain | |
| Great War Trilogy | American Front | Walk in Hell | Breakthroughs | |
| American Empire Trilogy | Blood and Iron | The Center Cannot Hold | The Victorious Opposition | |
| Settling Accounts Tetralogy | Return Engagement | Drive to the East | The Grapple | In at the Death | |
| Darkness | Into the Darkness | Darkness Descending | Through the Darkness | Rulers of the Darkness | Jaws of the Darkness | Out of the Darkness | |
| War Between the Provinces | Sentry Peak | Marching Through Peachtree | Advance and Retreat | |
| Hellenic Traders | Over the Wine Dark Sea | The Gryphon's Skull | The Sacred Land | Owls to Athens | |
| Crosstime Traffic | Gunpowder Empire | Curious Notions | In High Places | The Disunited States of America | The Gladiator | The Valley-Westside War | |
| Pacific War Series | Days of Infamy | End of the Beginning | |
| Scepter of Mercy | The Chernagor Pirates | The Bastard King | The Scepter's Return | |
| Other, non-series books | ||
| Agent of Byzantium | A Different Flesh | Noninterference | Kaleidoscope | A World Of Difference | Earthgrip | The Guns of the South | The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump | Departures | Down in the Bottomlands | The Two Georges | Thessalonica | Between the Rivers | Justinian | Household Gods | Counting Up, Counting Down | Ruled Britannia | In the Presence of Mine Enemies | Conan of Venarium | Every Inch a King | Fort Pillow | Beyond the Gap | Opening Atlantis | The Battle of Teutoberg Forest | ||
