The Grapple by Harry Turtledove

Settling Accounts: The Grapple by Harry Turtledove. New York: Del Ray Ballantine Books, 2006. ISBN: 0-345-45725-0

This is the third in the series of novels depicting World War II fought between the United States and a Confederacy which won the Civil War. The Confederacy lost World War I with its trench warfare and early use of tanks (called “barrels” in this alternate history), and are out for revenge in the Settling Accounts series. Unfortunately for them, their attempt to crush the north in one savage blitzkrieg reached its high water mark in the previous volume, The Drive to the East.

This volume takes us through the inevitable next phase of the war, as the tide turns, and the north, with its superior numbers, infrastructure and manufacturing capabilities, begins to wear down and even invade the South. Meanwhile, the fascist South is busily exterminating its black population in gas chambers and concentration camps just as fast as it can.

For information on the earlier books in the series, see my entry on The Victorious Opposition. Recommended for those following the series.