The guns of the South : a novel of the Civil War
(Book)

"A Del Rey book."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 516-517).

In a speculative work of fiction, Andries Rhoodie, a strange man with an unplaceable accent, provides the losing General Robert E. Lee and his army with an unlimited quantity of AK-47s, which will assure their victory. Northern Virginia is ragged and ill equipped. The battle of Gettysburg has broken the back of the Confederacy and decimated its manpower. As a Civil War historian, I literally could not put the Guns of the South down. It is absolutely unique without question the most fascinating Civil War novel I have ever read. Harry Turtledove knows his Civil War, and best of all, the Guns of the South is not simply great entertainment; it is also a serious and successful effort to come to grips with the central issues of the war. With the power and assurance of a master storyteller and the scrupulous accuracy of a trained historian, Harry Turtledove has created an immense, meticulously detailed, and utterly plausible world in which history takes a most unexpected turn. In the Guns of the South, Turtledove takes one of the most dramatic, bloody, and tumultuous episodes in our life as a nation, the Civil War, and vividly imagines what might have been had the rebels prevailed. In the unusually cold winter of 1864, General Robert E. Lee finds himself and his Army of Northern Virginia huddled on the banks of the Rapidan, trying to fight a war despite meager rations and a terrible lack of equipment indeed. Some of his men do not even have shoes. When Lee finds a way to arm his forces, the tide suddenly turns; the rebels win a decisive victory at the Battle of Wilderness. Lee presses his advantage, marching on Washington. If Lincoln surrenders, and the Confederacy can negotiate independence from the Union, there remain many obstacles to peace. The disputed states of Kentucky and Missouri must be accommodated, and the matter of slavery itself will threaten the newly independent Confederate States with fresh factional strife. Indeed, with victory come difficult choices for Robert E. Lee. War has worn down his health. His invalid wife lives for the day the two of them can finally build a peaceful life together. His days of service should be drawing to a close. Yet set against Lee's personal desires is the prospect of watching his beloved land squander the freedom that he and his men fought so desperately to win. Not for his own ambition but because duty calls, Lee will find himself faced with the price of triumph. Mixing masterfully drawn historical and fictional characters, Turtledove brings to life the turmoil of a people in crisis.