Harry Turtledove – the master of alternate history – has recast the tumultuous twentieth century and created an epic that is powerful, bold, and as convincing as it is provocative. In Drive to the East he continues his saga of warfare that has divided a nation and now threatens the entire world.
In 1914, the First World War ignited a brutal conflict in North America, with the United States finally defeating the Confederate States. In 1917, The Great War ended and an era of simmering hatred began, fueled by the despotism of a few and the sacrifice of many. Now it's 1942. The USA and CSA are locked in a tangle of jagged, blood-soaked battle lines, modern weaponry, desperate strategies, and the kind of violence that only the damned could conjure up – for their enemies and themselves.
In Richmond, Confederate president and dictator Jake Featherston is shocked by what his own aircraft have done in Philadelphia – killing U.S. president Al Smith in a barrage of bombs. Featherston presses ahead with a secret plan carried out on the dusty plains of Texas, where a so-called detention camp hides a far more evil purpose.
As the untested U.S. vice president takes over for Smith, the United States face a furious thrust by the Confederate army, pressing inexorably into Pennsylvania. But with the industrial heartland under siege, Canada in revolt, and U.S. naval ships fighting against the Japanese in the Sandwich Islands, the most dangerous place in the world may be overlooked.
Harry Norman Turtledove (born 1949) is an American historian and novelist. He writes historical fiction, alternate history, science fiction and fantasy novels. Harry Turtledove has written books under three pseudonyms: Eric Iverson, Dan Chernenko and H. N. Turteltaub. Photo source: Wikimedia Commons.
