" Harry Turtledove] handles his huge cast with admirable skill. The insights into racial politics elevate this novel to a status above mere entertainment, although it provides that aplenty."--Publishers Weekly It's 1941, and an alliance of peace holds in check the most powerful nations of the world--but it is an uneasy peace. Japan dominates the Pacific, the Russian tsar rules Alaska, and England, under Winston Churchill, chafes for a return to its former glory.
Behind this fa ade of world order, America is a bomb waiting to explode. Jake Featherston, the megalomaniacal leader of the Confederate States of America, is just the man to light the fuse. Opposite him is Al Smith, a Socialist U.S. president in the Philadelphia White House. Smith is a living symbol of hope for a nation that has been through the hell of war and depression.
Featherston and his Freedom Party are determined to conquer their Northern neighbor at any cost. After crushing a Negro rebellion in his own nation, Featherston sends Confederate army planes to attack Philadelphia. In the aftermath of the CSA blitzkrieg, the war machine spins a vortex of destruction, betrayal, and fury that no one--not even Jake Featherston himself--can control.
"Turtledove plays heady games with actual history, scattering object lessons and bitter ironies along the way. Return Engagement features] strong, complex characters against a sweeping alt-historical background."--Kirkus Reviews "Another absorbing installment of Turtledove's] character-centered alternate-history saga."--
BooklistAbout the AuthorHarry Turtledove is the award-winning author of the alternate-history works
The Man with the Iron Heart, The Guns of the South, and
How Few Remain (winner of the Sidewise Award for Best Novel); the Hot War books:
Bombs Away, Fallout, and
Armistice; the War That Came Early novels:
Hitler's War, West and East, The Big Switch, Coup d'Etat, Two Fronts, and
Last Orders; the Worldwar saga:
In the Balance, Tilting the Balance, Upsetting the Balance, and
Striking the Balance; the Colonization books:
Second Contact, Down to Earth, and
Aftershocks; the Great War epics:
American Front, Walk in Hell, and
Breakthroughs; the American Empire novels:
Blood and Iron, The Center Cannot Hold, and
Victorious Opposition; and the Settling Accounts series:
Return Engagement, Drive to the East, The Grapple, and
In at the Death. Turtledove is married to fellow novelist Laura Frankos. They have three daughters--Alison, Rachel, and Rebecca--and two granddaughters, Cordelia Turtledove Katayanagi and Phoebe Quinn Turtledove Katayanagi.