This second volume in Harry Turtledove’s Settling Accounts series
Seeing a chance to knock the U.S.A. completely out of the war, the Confederates set their sights on Pittsburgh and its steel mills. In the meantime, the United States is trying to find a way to strike back and drive the CSA out of its territory. Thanks to the person of General Irving Morrell, they just might have the means to do that.
Elsewhere in the war, the Confederate holocaust against its black population continues and the moral blindness of the men participating it — including characters we’ve known since The Great War series — becomes all the more appalling. Turtledove’s message here, I think, is to show that the Holocaust that we know was not necessarily unique to Germany or Europe and that, under the wrong circumstances, seemingly good man can be convinced to do something completely evil.
As the book ends, the possibility of a new day for the USA begins to emerge as the Confederate Army around Pittsburgh is defeated and the door is left open to a new offensive that will drive the CSA from American soil.
Previous Post:
Book Review: How Few Remain
Book Review: The Great War: American Front
Book Review: The Great War: Walk In Hell
Book Review: The Great War: Breakthroughs
American Empire: Blood & Iron
American Empire: The Center Cannot Hold
American Empire: The Victorious Opposition
Settling Accounts: Return Engagement
