Stars & Stripes Forever: A Novel of Alternate History

Loved it style and story was well written.. I can't wait too read next in series. An price was right

Having read Stars and Stripes Forever, I eagerly awaited the next installment. It was worth the wait to read Stars and Stripes In Peril. But I was very disappointed, for several reasons. The main one is Harrisons interpretation of the the difficulties in Ireland. Very simplistic and very grand. here is little in the way of the bitterness of the past and indeed of the present in the book (the time period). The oversimplistic viewpoint on the depredations of the Europrean powers in Mexico. It was all too clean cut. A previous article dealt with Lincoln, indeed he appears to be a simple yes man. A good read, but not too hot for Irish readers, even though Irish liberation in the 19th century would have saved a lot of grief. Michael Vernon, Co. Armagh, Ireland.

I couldn't put the book down. It is my first "what if" book and it left me thinking. I would recommend it to anyone who has studied the Civil War. It lets your imagination flow.

I thought the book was great, an alternate ending to what was America's most decisive chapter. What I liked was how the combined strength of the two armies proved what odds they could accomplish together and not apart. America's invasion of Canada, was also great, with the Rebels showing why they were a force to be reckoned with. Imagine if this had really happened. No Gettysburg No Andersonville, a peaceful end to slavery. And worst of all. Lincoln not getting assassinated.

Engrossing, optimistic and fun. Who says that alt history has to always be about things being worse, rather than better? Harrison's prose is crisp, his plotting sure-handed and if the dialog seems stilted, well, people didn't speak and write as informally in 1862 as they do now. Much of the criticism I've read seems to come from Anglophiles who seem angry that that sun has long set on the British Empire. Harrison's suggestion that America could whip the world makes sense to me. With Sherman, Grant, Lee and Jackson in command, how could a united America not knock off the Brits? I'm waiting amxiously for the next two books.

I tend to disagree with some others who have said that the events "could not have happened" or are simply fantasy. The point of ALTERNATE history is to give ideas of a future that "may have been",not as actually happened. In fact, the feelings Harrison evokes in his novel actually did happen during that time. This well-written novel is obviously the product of years of research and a great deal of thought has gone into this excellent book. I'll be the first to the bookstore for the other two volumes.