The Disunited States of America

This is not an objective review. I'm an avid reader of just about everything Harry Turtledove writes. I enjoy the Crosstime Traffic series, both for it's speculations about travel to alternate dimensions as well as the view it gives us of life in bygone eras or imagined alternative worlds. The time I spend reading his books is a welcome escape to an alternate universe that I love to visit.

Time after time Harry Turtledove's books are so enjoyable to read that you just don't want to put them down. The story is so real that it makes people think just how if one moment is change how history could change. I would recommend to read this book and all the other Crosstime Traffic novels.

The Disunited States (2006) is the fourth Alternate History novel in the Crosstime Traffic series, following In High Places. In the previous volume, Annette Klein manages to escape from slavery and returns to her home timeline. Crosstime Traffic undergoes a harsh public scrutiny. In this novel, Beckie Royer and her grandmother are visiting relatives in Ohio and they are en route to Virginia to visit still more. Beckie is getting tired of the differences between her native country of California and these eastern states. Her anxiety level has just shot up as she realizes that the odd-shaped things in the floorboards are assault rifles. Just then her Uncle Luke drives the car up to the Virginia border station and states that he has nothing to declare. The Virginia border guards take their passports and are surprised when Beckie and her grandmother hand over California papers. After a short discussion of their visits to family members in both states, the guards wave them through the station. The next stop is Elizabeth, Virginia, population 1316. Uncle Luke drops them off in front of the courthouse and pulls out headed for Charleston, Virginia. Beckie is not sorry to see the white Honda leave, particularly since the rifles are going with it. Beckie briefly mentions the rifles to her grandmother, but nothing gets through Gran's fixation on the inconveniences of life. Justin Monroe and his mother are coming to this timeline for a standard tour of duty. Randolph Brooks is their local contact. The natives believe that Justin's mother is Randolph's sister. When they arrive at the Charleston Coin and Stamp Company, Justin notices a white Honda parking in front of the donut house and the driver carries a blanket wrapped bundle into the shop. When he comes out, two passing policemen cause him to almost jump out of his skin. As the police walk by, the man jumps onto his car and drives away. Later, Randolph takes Justin with him to visit a client in Elizabeth. There Justin meets Beckie, who is staying with the Snodgrasses. Ethel Snodgrass is Gran's cousin and Ted Snodgrass is Randolph's client. As Ted and Randolph settle in for some old-fashioned haggling, Justin and Beckie take a couple of fizzes out back and talk. As the haggling goes on, a TV announcer reports that a strange illness has broken out in several locations in the state and all travel has been suspended until further notice. Justin and Randolph are now stranded in Elizabeth. Even worse, Beckie cannot return to California until the disease is identified and a treatment discovered. Then starts the shooting war between Ohio and Virginia. This story is about a United States that could not agree on a constitution; apparently a bicameral legislature was never considered. The Articles of Confederation were ignored more and more until they became part of the past. The various states began to separate until each was an autonomous nation; they even had wars among themselves.

Turtledove is the grand master of alternative American history and this time Ohio and Virginia are at war with each other. A fascinating novel.

Here is the fourth of Harry Turtledove's exciting Crosstime Traffic series. Its alternative history with a twist: Crosstime Traffic is a giant corporation in the late 21st century US which controls the secret of traveling to parallel worlds through transposition chambers. The science is a bit woolly and largely goes unexplained by Turtledove, but it doesn't really matter. Each of the Crosstime Traffic books thus far has had teenage protagonists who deal with difficult ethical situations in different timelines. The Disunited States of America is set in a world where the US Constitution was never written and the Articles of Confederation failed to work, meaning that North America is split into dozens of sometimes warring nations. Justin and his mother are Crosstime Traffic workers who do business in the independent nation of Virginia. Unfortunately, while they are at work Ohio goes to war against Virginia and unleashes a manmade plague that sickens and kills nearly everyone exposed. The other major character is Becky, a native of California who is caught by the war on a visit to Virginia with her crotchety grandmother. The two teenagers become friends (but no more) during the weeks they spend dealing with war and illness. All of the Crosstime Traffic series are well written with plots aimed at high school and younger readers. The stories are imaginative and thought provoking and (I hope) will inspire an interest in history within their target audience. I've enjoyed all four Crosstime Traffic books thus far and hope Turtledove will continue the series indefinitely. I only wish that I could get a job at Crosstime Traffic myself!