The War That Came Early West and Eas..., Harry Turtledove
The War That Came Early West and Eas..., Harry Turtledove
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The War That Came Early: West and East

Author: Harry Turtledove

Narrator: Todd McLaren

Unabridged: 17 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/03/2010


Synopsis

In 1938, two men held history in their hands. One was Adolf Hitler. The other was British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who, determined to avoid war at any cost, came to be known as "the great appeaser." But Harry Turtledove, the unrivaled master of alternate history, has launched a gripping saga that springboards from a different fateful act: What if Chamberlain had stood up to Hitler? What would the Nazis' next move have been? And how would the war—which Hitler had always regretted waiting eleven months to start—have unfolded and changed our world?

Here, Turtledove takes us across a panorama of conflict fueled by ideology and demagoguery. Nations are pitted against nations, alliances are forged between old enemies, ordinary men and women are hurled into extraordinary life-and-death situations. In Japanese-controlled Singapore, an American marine falls in love with a Russian dance hall hostess, while around him are heard the first explosions of Chinese guerilla resistance. On the frontlines of war-ravaged rural France, a weary soldier perfects the art of using an enormous anti-tank gun as a sniper's tool—while from Germany a killer is sent to hunt him down. And in the icy North Atlantic, a U-boat bearing an experimental device wreaks havoc on British shipping, setting the stage for a Nazi ground invasion of Denmark.

From an American woman trapped in Germany who receives safe passage from Hitler himself to a Jewish family steeped in German culture and facing the hatred rising around them, from Japanese soldiers on the remote edge of Siberia to American volunteers in Spain, The War That Came Early: West and East is the story of a world held hostage by tyrants—Stalin, Hitler, Sanjuro—each holding on to power through lies and terror even in the face of treacherous plots from within.

As armies clash, and as the brave, foolish, and true believers choose sides, new weapons are added to already deadly arsenals and new strategies are plotted to break a growing stalemate. But one question looms over the conflict: What will it take to bring America into this war?

About Harry Turtledove

Harry Turtledove (he/him) is an American fantasy and science fiction writer whom Publishers Weekly has called the "Master of Alternate History." He has received numerous awards and distinctions, including the Hugo Award for Best Novella, the HOMer Award for Short story, and the John Esthen Cook Award for Southern Fiction. Turtledove's works include the Crosstime Traffic, Worldwar, Darkness, and Opening of the World series; the stand-alone novels The House of Daniel, Fort Pillow, and Give Me Back My Legions!; and over a dozen short stories available on Tor.com. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, novelist Laura Frankos, and their four daughters.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Nadienne on March 07, 2021

A pretty solid entry into this series; however, I almost feel like the story is in something of a holding pattern. Not much happens that either wasn't already expected or couldn't be foreseen. The battle lines are rather static...not that this is necessarily a bad thing, but I'm wanting the story to......more

Goodreads review by David on March 01, 2019

I liked the idea of a young Jew hiding out the War in a Wehrmacht tank. I also liked the idea of carrying the narrative obliquely, through the POVs of his sister and an unsuspecting fellow soldier, but all of the additional POVs and story arcs feel like unnecessary padding. Since the concept is so i......more

Goodreads review by Carol on November 11, 2014

I enjoyed this book more than the first one, probably just because I was better at keeping all the characters straight. I thought the battle scenes were great, especially the U-boat operations, the tank-busting by the ace Junker pilot, and the Panzer team in action against the Red Army in Poland. On......more

Goodreads review by Harry on January 07, 2012

I Love Harry Turtledove, but this was one of my least favorite of his books. The characters were just not engaging. It was very hard for me to remember who was who or the really care. Within the set of characters there were no historical figures or high level types to give insight into the developme......more

Goodreads review by Dan on March 25, 2021

Book 2 of the series was similar to book 1.... not a huge difference in the historical but an interesting way to tell the story of WW2 through different perspectives.......more