Settling Accounts: In at the Death

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Settling Accounts: In at the Death
LC Class
PS3570.U76 S477 2007
Preceded bySettling Accounts: The Grapple 

Settling Accounts: In at the Death is the last novel of the

Settling Accounts tetralogy that presents an alternate history of World War II known as the Second Great War that was released July 27, 2007. It brings to a conclusion the multi-series compilation by author Harry Turtledove,[1] a series sometimes referred to as Southern Victory. It covers the time period from 1943 to 1945.[2][3]

Plot introduction

This alternative history began with the

Second Great War against the Confederates and their allies, including primarily the United Kingdom and France
.

Plot

The United States' campaigns mirror

Philadelphia, and detonated; however, the bomb explodes only on the city's outskirts west of the Schuylkill River. While causing horrific casualties, the bombing does not damage any government buildings. In retaliation, the United States drops two nuclear bombs on Newport News, Virginia, and Charleston, South Carolina. The Newport News bomb narrowly misses Confederate President
Jake Featherston.

guerrilla fighter named Cassius. The fourth and presumably final war between the United States and Confederate States ends officially on July 14, 1944, at 6:01 p.m after an unconditional surrender is signed between General
Irving Morrell and the new (and outgoing) Confederate President Don Partridge.

The United States commences a full occupation of the former Confederate States and Canada, though Texas apparently remains independent but still hosts American soldiers in its territory. For the first time in 83 years, the Stars and Stripes flies over the whole of the pre-1861 United States territory, and Americans express their determination never to let go of the former Confederate territories, after Featherston came so close to crushing them.

Meanwhile, American forces, to their horror, discover

propagandist
Saul Goldman, Camp Determination commandant Jefferson Pinkard, and his aide Vern Green.

The Confederates are bitter and far from being reconciled to their fate; they constantly attack the occupying US forces, despite grim retaliations including the execution of civilian hostages. Though outlawed, the Freedom Party is still very much an active underground force.

Moreover, despite dissolving the Confederate government and declaring its firm intention never to let it rise again, the United States refrains from formally annexing and (re)admitting Southern states back into the Union (with the exception of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Houston, which once again split from Texas), since any free elections would likely fill Congress with the United States' most staunch enemies. Rather, the former Confederate territories are left in the same legal limbo in which Canada has been since 1917 (being offered neither independence nor civil liberties) and kept under an open-ended, harsh military rule.

Despite the enormous victory won by the US, the war has not truly ended, but rather changed its form. To their chagrin, most of the soldiers and sailors conscripted "for the duration" are not discharged but set to occupation duty. The US is faced with the daunting task of keeping under indefinite harsh military occupation a vast

Mormon Utah
.

And at the same time, the Nuclear Age has been launched with the destruction of three cities in

King Charles XI getting killed in the blast. Louis XIX takes the throne and sues for peace. The United Kingdom uses its first superbomb to destroy Hamburg. In response, Germany destroys London, Brighton, and Norwich with three superbombs. Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Oswald Mosley, and King Edward VIII are able to evacuate London before the bombing, knowing the Germans would strike back. After the three British cities are bombed, Britain builds a second superbomb. However, before the nuclear bomb can strike a major German city, it is shot down in German-occupied Belgium, where it explodes harmlessly somewhere between Bruges and Ghent. This results in Winston Churchill being ousted as Prime Minister in a no-confidence vote. Churchill's succeeded by Horace Wilson, who seeks a cease-fire with Germany. Oswald Mosley is also ousted as Chancellor of the Exchequer
in a non-confidence vote.

The United States and Germany are determined in trying to prevent

Pacific
is rejected out of hand by one character.

Meanwhile,

electoral votes from the four states of Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. However, because it expected a Socialist victory rather than a Democratic one, the Chicago Tribune had written out headlines the night of the election proclaiming "La Follette beats Dewey
".

At his inauguration on February 1, 1945, President Thomas Dewey pledges to continue the occupation of the former Confederate States with the intent to integrate the southern states back into the Union. He also pledges to continue La Follette's policy of racial equality in the armed services. Addressing the international stage, Dewey proposes a continued partnership with America's ally, the German Empire. The "Dewey Doctrine" would allow the United States and Germany to police the world and prevent the proliferation of Superbomb technology to former enemies France, Japan, and Russia.

Reception

Stranger Horizons compared the book positively to the preceding one in the series, saying that it was "more engaging than the comparative disappointment of The Grapple, which now appears to have been written because Turtledove had a bit too much for even three packed books, and not quite enough for four really satisfying ones".[4] Publishers Weekly also gave a positive review, saying that the book was a "satisfying if predictable conclusion" to the series.[5] SF Site's review was also positive, saying that "In at the Death forms an excellent coda to this massive series of eleven novels".[6]

References

  1. ^ "Uchronia: Great War Multi-Series (Southern Victory)". www.uchronia.net.
  2. ^ ELHEFNAWY, NADER (1 October 2007). "Settling Accounts: In at the Death". Strange Horizons. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  3. ^ "Settling Accounts: In at the Death". Publishers Weekly. 4 June 2007. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  4. ^ ELHEFNAWY, Nader (1 October 2007). "SETTLING ACCOUNTS: IN AT THE DEATH BY HARRY TURTLEDOVE". Stranger Horizons. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  5. ^ "Settling Accounts: In at the Death". Publishers Weekly. 4 June 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  6. ^ Silver, Steve. "SETTLING ACCOUNTS: IN AT THE DEATH". SF Site. Retrieved 20 May 2020.

External links

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