I have read every Turtledove book I can get my hands on. He is the master of alternate history.

The way he weaves actual historical figures into his tales makes his story all the more fascinating.

Imagine the South winning the Civil War and both World Wars being fought in North America. Turtledove uses his fertile imagination to do just that.

The Settling Accounts series takes the reader into a world struggle pitting the USA and Germany against the CSA, Britain and France; with a Pacific Theater against Japan thrown in. A Mormon revolt in Utah and Canadians uprising against the hated Yankee conquerers, just adds spice.
Drive to the East is the second book of this account.

Turtledove ties all his stories together by using characters introduced in his previous tales, as they continued with their lives after "The Great War (WW1)". For those who haven't read the previous series, the author gives just enough background to make the reader comfortable about the events in the characters past.

All in all the book is just a great read. I would recommend it to all those readers who enjoy alternate history, and to anyone who would enjoy a different slant on history.

I can hardly wait to get my hands on book 4 to see who wins!!!!

Another awesome sequel to the first book by Harry Turtledove "settling accounts return engagement. Great story in recreating a different outcome for World War II.

I find this book a truly great read. The story line is good, and the outcome is believeable. I just hope Turtledove continues in this trend, and shows the U.S.A. how they get their just deserts from the Confederacy as they continue to beat the hell out of them.

...is that there's always the risk that your wellspring of ideas is going to dry up and you wind up recycling. The "Settling Accounts" series isn't so much as series in its own right as it is a continuation of Turtledove's "American Empire" saga. And now it looks like he's falling into the trap of a lot of alternate reality storytellers and taking events from this reality and just changing the players around like in volleyball. For the Confederacy to be led by a disgruntled bigoted enlisted veteran of The Great War should have been a tipoff, but there are so many other things. Like Utah's Mormons sending out suicide bombers. Plus an all-American Holocaust using the same sort of death camps, the same sort of industrial approach, even the same type of chemicals. And I've got real problems with the American Confederacy becoming that much like the Third Reich in spirit. Like any other Yankee schoolkid, I was taught about what big meanies the South were, and the news media reinforced that indoctrination during the 1960s Civil Rights struggles; Wallace, Bull Connor, you name it. Then, later in life, I learned about New England's Legion Of White Decency and their similarity to the Klan, including a visual resemblance, white robes and all. Which made my own region's demonization of the "Rebs" all the more hypocritical. So Turtledove has made this series allegorical, but about as biased an allegory as you can get.

...is that there's always the risk that your wellspring of ideas is going to dry up and you wind up recycling. The "Settling Accounts" series isn't so much as series in its own right as it is a continuation of Turtledove's "American Empire" saga. And now it looks like he's falling into the trap of a lot of alternate reality storytellers and taking events from this reality and just changing the players around like in volleyball. For the Confederacy to be led by a disgruntled bigoted enlisted veteran of The Great War should have been a tipoff, but there are so many other things. Like Utah's Mormons sending out suicide bombers. Plus an all-American Holocaust using the same sort of death camps, the same sort of industrial approach, even the same type of chemicals. And I've got real problems with the American Confederacy becoming that much like the Third Reich in spirit. Like any other Yankee schoolkid, I was taught about what big meanies the South were, and the news media reinforced that indoctrination during the 1960s Civil Rights struggles; Wallace, Bull Connor, you name it. Then, later in life, I learned about New England's Legion Of White Decency and their similarity to the Klan, including a visual resemblance, white robes and all. Which made my own region's demonization of the "Rebs" all the more hypocritical. So Turtledove has made this series allegorical, but about as biased an allegory as you can get.

It is the winter of 1942. Six months have passed since Jake Featherston -- President of the Confederate States of America and "the Sarge" of the ruling Freedom Party -- gave the order for the surprise attack on the United States of America, but the Confederacy has failed in its mission to quickly knock the USA out of the Second World War and restore Confederate hegemony in the Western Hemisphere. The Confederacy's grip on Ohio still has the USA cut in half, while C.S. bombers kill the President of the United States, Al Smith, in his bunker. But his successor vows to continue the war, and for each day that the war drags on, the USA gets stronger, while the CSA's borrowed time slowly runs out. Featherston and his chief of staff, Nathan Bedford Forrest III, devise a new plan that will deliver the coup de grace to the crippled USA -- but will it work? Will Operation Coal-scuttle bring total victory to the Confederate States of America and its madman leader? The blacks in the CSA hope otherwise -- Featherston's henchmen have already cleared several cities of their presence, and the construction of an enormous camp in the empty Texas prairie brings a terrifying new dimension to that mysterious slang-term: "population reduction."

I thought this was a good book. After the bangs and thrills of the first few pages, the book takes a while to get started, but once the operation on which the title of the book is based begins, the action picks up. I also liked the parallels to the Civil War -- General MacArthur's misguided attacks on Fredericksburg, Virginia, mimics Ambrose Burnside's assault oo December 13, 1862, while Jonathan Moss gets used to life in a prison camp in the middle of Georgia called Andersonville.

We also see some new characters -- which means other characters die. One of them was well deserved; the death could not have happened to a nicer person, even if the death comes at an inconvenient time plot-wise.

All in all, a good read for the middle of a series. If you're just getting started with these books, then you'll do better to begin with How Few Remain and work your way from there, but for veterans this book picks up right where Return Engagement ended and doesn't stop.

Turtledove's magnus alternate history continues to grab one's attention. The story line he has developed has grown well and he meshes actual history to this world he had created. Like others have noted, if you are a student of history, there are few surprises thus far. The South in a surprise attack (note the name of the operation!) starts the WW2 in the US while Europe erupts again too. You see familiar faces trying to deal with a changing world and a brutal war complete with a black holocaust. The US is despertely trying to stem the Confederate advance while an exhuberant South prays for a quick victory.

A few techinal glitches pop up that military historians would arch an eyebrow over (automatic small arms turning the tide of so many battles for instance, the German society Turtledove models the South on, had few autmatic rifles) but over all its a good fast read. I read it in less then 3 days...

He is not developing characters as well as he did in earlier books. As they are killed/die off, few are coming forward to replace them. I do hope he will return to improving the characters the books evolve around.

Looking forward to the next books in the series!

Continuing the tour-de-force alternate history series that began with the highly (and rightly) praised "How Few Remain" Harry Turtledove delivers another epic chapter in his on-going saga of a divided United States. Picking up where he left off in "Settling Accounts: Return Engagement," we see the United and Confederate States as they hurl themselves at each other, with a series of bloody battles in the air, on the ground and all over North America and the world.
In the west the US struggles to suppress the third Mormon Rebellion, while in the east, Confederate forces push towards the industrial heartland in a bid to end a war which is slowly draining them of manpower. Meanwhile, in Richmond, Va., Southern president and dictator, Jake Featherston, and his Freedom Party stalwarts, have set in motion the machinery of their own "Final Solution" as events at the front become more and more desperate. And in the shadows, both US and CS scientists race towards finding the keys that will unlock the secret behind a super weapon of untold destructive power.
Settling Accounts: Drive to the East is Turtledove at his best. He adeptly weaves a story that is both believable, touching, heroic, and tragic. But it is also a very human story, bringing the reader face-to-face with people who, though fictional (in many cases) seem as complex and genuine as they would in real life, in similar circumstances.
This is what makes this story both a fine addition to the series so far, and another triumph for its author. Finely written, fast paced, and with an insightful understanding people, places, and events, Settling Accounts: Drive to the East leaves the reader itching for more and more by the time it ends.
An excellent addition to an excellent series!

I really liked the first couple books in this series. I was hooked on "How few Remain" but there is no imagination or creativity left in this series. I weep for it. Seriously. It was that bad. I can write better than this. I will never read another Turtledove book.