Last Orders (War That Came Early)

Harry Turtledove (Get this book)
Turtledove delivers the final installment-and there's room for a maybe in there-of his series developing an alternate-history version of World War II. What if, for instance, the Spanish Civil War had dragged on? Imagine, then, a 1943 where fascist Nationalists backed by Nazi Germany wage trench warfare against Republican communists assisted by independently operating Americans and Europeans. Further suppose that in 1938, when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia, Britain and France had allied themselves with Nazi Germany to battle the communist Soviet Union. Disdaining broad brush strokes, Turtledove's focus on the characters serves to fill out the big picture with patient, nitty-gritty detail. It's all quite plausible, sure, and armchair warriors will have much to ponder.Some readers may find the conclusion messy and unsatisfying, but that's part of Turtledove's argument: War often is.--Kirkus