American Empire: Blood and Iron
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| American Empire: Blood and Iron | |
| Author | Harry Turtledove |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | American Empire |
| Genre(s) | Alternate history novel |
| Publication date | July 31, 2001 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 512 |
| ISBN | 034540565X |
| Preceded by | The Great War: Breakthroughs |
| Followed by | American Empire: The Center Cannot Hold |
American Empire: Blood and Iron is the first book of the American Empire trilogy of alternate history fiction novels by Harry Turtledove. It is a sequel to the novel How Few Remain and the Great War trilogy, and is part of the Timeline-191 series.
Blood & Iron covers events directly following the closing events of The Great War: Breakthroughs. It takes the Timeline-191 world from 1917 to 1924.
[edit] Plot summary
The victorious United States of America stands over the fallen Confederate States of America, victim to its own nationalist-ego and myth after three years of bloody trench fighting. In the CSA, an ex-noncom named Jake Featherston joins the Freedom Party and uses it as his platform for taking over the Confederate government and exacting revenge on both the USA and the groups he perceives as having stabbed the CSA in the back: blacks, the Southern aristocracy, and the Whig Party.
He soon takes over as de facto leader of the Party and unleashes angry veterans on his enemies. He almost becomes president in 1921, but setbacks at the polls and elsewhere force him and the Party to wait longer to accomplish their ruthless goals.
The USA's conservative government, meanwhile, had been voted out of office by the party of the masses: the Socialists, electing President Upton Sinclair and Vice President Hosea Blackford, who marries Congresswoman Flora Hamburger. Ignoring the looming threat to the south, the Socialists focus on improving the lives of its citizenry - at the cost of trimming down its defenses and the military. The assassination of the Confederate president Wade Hampton V, a Whig, by Freedom party member Grady Calkins led to a mass exodus of Freedom Party members and evoked the pity of the USA's socialist administration. The USA ended Confederate reparations causing the revival of the CSA's currency, which had suffered from crippling inflation since the conclusion of the Great War. Popular distrust in the Freedom Party and the newfound strength of Confederate paper money led to support for the newly appointed Whig president Burton Mitchel. The Socialists also have no better notion about what to do with the blacks in North America, and ignore the plight of those in the Confederacy.
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| Videssos books | Videssos Cycle | The Misplaced Legion | An Emperor for the Legion | The Legion of Videssos | The Swords of the Legion |
| The Tale of Krispos | Krispos Rising | Krispos of Videssos | Krispos the Emperor | |
| Time of Troubles | The Stolen Throne | Hammer and Anvil | The Thousand Cities | Videssos Besieged | |
| The Bridge of the Separator | ||
| The Race or Tosev timeline series |
Worldwar Tetralogy | In the Balance | Tilting the Balance | Upsetting the Balance | Striking the Balance |
| Colonization | Second Contact | Down to Earth | Aftershocks | |
| Homeward Bound | ||
| Southern Victory or Timeline-191 |
How Few Remain | |
| Great War Trilogy | American Front | Walk in Hell | Breakthroughs | |
| American Empire Trilogy | Blood and Iron | The Center Cannot Hold | The Victorious Opposition | |
| Settling Accounts Tetralogy | Return Engagement | Drive to the East | The Grapple | In at the Death | |
| Darkness | Into the Darkness | Darkness Descending | Through the Darkness | Rulers of the Darkness | Jaws of the Darkness | Out of the Darkness | |
| War Between the Provinces | Sentry Peak | Marching Through Peachtree | Advance and Retreat | |
| Hellenic Traders | Over the Wine Dark Sea | The Gryphon's Skull | The Sacred Land | Owls to Athens | |
| Crosstime Traffic | Gunpowder Empire | Curious Notions | In High Places | The Disunited States of America | The Gladiator | The Valley-Westside War | |
| Pacific War Series | Days of Infamy | End of the Beginning | |
| Scepter of Mercy | The Chernagor Pirates | The Bastard King | The Scepter's Return | |
| Other, non-series books | ||
| Agent of Byzantium | A Different Flesh | Noninterference | Kaleidoscope | A World Of Difference | Earthgrip | The Guns of the South | The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump | Departures | Down in the Bottomlands | The Two Georges | Thessalonica | Between the Rivers | Justinian | Household Gods | Counting Up, Counting Down | Ruled Britannia | In the Presence of Mine Enemies | Conan of Venarium | Every Inch a King | Fort Pillow | Beyond the Gap | Opening Atlantis | The Battle of Teutoberg Forest | ||
