Tuesday, April 18, 2006
The Pendragon is on a roll, finding interesting books to read. My latest acquisition only got good in the last 100 pages which causes me to rate it only about 5/10 overall but it had some intriguing ideas. It's a novel entitled 1901 by Robert Conroy (Mass Market 1995). The book is a work of alternative history based on findings that suggest Kaiser Wilhelm II was planning a possible invasion of the US to force a handover to Germany of recent imperial acquisitions like Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. This book imagines that it actually happened. The German navy blockades New York and takes Manhattan. The US navy and army are largely abroad and only weak militias left to face the might of Europe's second most-powerful nation. President William McKinley suffers a fatal heart-attack elevating the young and untried Theodore Roosevelt into the presidency. TR tries his best but the best talent available to him are the octogenarian veterans of the Civil War, one of whom (James Longstreet) is promoted to commander-in-chief of the US armed forces.
The novel is largely a politically-correct history lesson, with characters showing analytical skills far beyond the actual reach of the time. This makes for dry reading. For example, a veteran of the Spanish-American War ruminates, "History glorified the Rough Riders but conveniently forgot their colored comrades." I mean, seriously, how many people in 1901 were thinking that far ahead? Roosevelt comments on a possible longterm alliance with Britain, "Their empire is on the way out." Nobody would have guessed that in 1901. Nevertheless, there are some intruiging ideas. For example, Kaiser Wilhelm protests the use of submarine warfare against his navy as "unmanly." It was exactly what the Americans would do in real life 15 years later. There is also the intriguing idea that such a war would speed things up. At the end, the German military is creating what they call "the Third Reich" with an emphasis on anti-Semitism. Also pushed forward: civil rights, the president's right to nominate a replacement VP, a standing army and navy and increased world involvement and a worldwide alliance of English-speaking peoples (the last is still only in the possibility phase). I don't highly recommend alternative histories but this one had some interesting ideas that can't be ignored if one wants to theorize how different history would be if the US had to fight a war on its own soil. Another interesting thing, coming as the book did before the Iraq War, is TR's political foes (especially William Jennings Bryan) are originally supportive of the war effort but by the time it's a few weeks old they are beginning to say the overseas imperialism is not worth it and call for peace favorable to Germany. We can't be certain, but I suspect John Kerry might have done the same had he lived in the days of an invasion of our soil. He can't seem to see beyond cheap political gain.
1901 is worth reading if you have a lot of time and stamina. Otherwise, there are some good political pundits who make the same point without reverting to historical might-have-beens.
The novel is largely a politically-correct history lesson, with characters showing analytical skills far beyond the actual reach of the time. This makes for dry reading. For example, a veteran of the Spanish-American War ruminates, "History glorified the Rough Riders but conveniently forgot their colored comrades." I mean, seriously, how many people in 1901 were thinking that far ahead? Roosevelt comments on a possible longterm alliance with Britain, "Their empire is on the way out." Nobody would have guessed that in 1901. Nevertheless, there are some intruiging ideas. For example, Kaiser Wilhelm protests the use of submarine warfare against his navy as "unmanly." It was exactly what the Americans would do in real life 15 years later. There is also the intriguing idea that such a war would speed things up. At the end, the German military is creating what they call "the Third Reich" with an emphasis on anti-Semitism. Also pushed forward: civil rights, the president's right to nominate a replacement VP, a standing army and navy and increased world involvement and a worldwide alliance of English-speaking peoples (the last is still only in the possibility phase). I don't highly recommend alternative histories but this one had some interesting ideas that can't be ignored if one wants to theorize how different history would be if the US had to fight a war on its own soil. Another interesting thing, coming as the book did before the Iraq War, is TR's political foes (especially William Jennings Bryan) are originally supportive of the war effort but by the time it's a few weeks old they are beginning to say the overseas imperialism is not worth it and call for peace favorable to Germany. We can't be certain, but I suspect John Kerry might have done the same had he lived in the days of an invasion of our soil. He can't seem to see beyond cheap political gain.
1901 is worth reading if you have a lot of time and stamina. Otherwise, there are some good political pundits who make the same point without reverting to historical might-have-beens.
// posted by The Pendragon @ 11:47 AM 
