The Man with the Iron Heart - Hardcover

Turtledove, Harry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0345504348 ISBN 13: 9780345504340

Publisher: Del Rey, 2008

Synopsis

What if V-E Day didn't end World War II in Europe? What if, instead, the Allies had to face a potent, even fanatical, postwar Nazi resistance? Such a movement, based in the fabled Alpine redoubt, was in fact a real threat, ultimately neutralized by Germany's flagging resources and squabbling officials. But had SS Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich, the notorious Man with the Iron Heart, not been assassinated in 1942, fate might have taken a different turn. We might likely have seen a German guerrilla war launched against the conquerors, presaging by more than half a century the protracted conflict with an unrelenting enemy that now engulfs the United States and its allies in Iraq. How might today's clash of troops versus terrorists have played out in 1945?
In this imagined world, Nazi forces resort to unconventional warfare, using the quick and dirty tactics of terrorism - booby traps, time bombs, mortar and rocket strikes in the night, assassinations, even kamikaze-style suicide attacks - to overturn what seemed to be a decisive Allied victory. In November 1945, a truck bomb blows up the Nuremberg Palace of Justice, where high-ranking Nazi officials are about to stand trial for war crimes. None of the accused are there when the bomb goes off, but their judges, all of them present and accounted for, are annihilated. Worse acts of terrorism follow all over Europe.
Suddenly the Allies - especially the United States - must battle an invisible enemy and sacrifice countless lives in a long, seemingly pointless, unwinnable conflict. On the home front, patriotism corrodes, political fortunes are made and lost in the face of antiwar backlash, and a once-proud country wonders how the righteous fight for freedom overseas has collapsed into a hopeless quagmire. At once a novel of thrilling military suspense, intriguing alternate history, and profound insight into contemporary affairs, The Man with the Iron Heart is a tour de force by a storyteller of exceptional imaginative power.

About this title

Review:

PRAISE FOR HARRY TURTLEDOVE
"Turtledove is the standard-bearer of alternate history."
-USA Today
Settling Accounts: The Grapple
"[A] magisterial saga of an alternate America . . . a profoundly thoughtful masterpiece of alternate history."
-Booklist
Settling Accounts: Drive to the East
"First-time readers can jump in and enjoy Turtledove's richly rearranged cultural and political landscape."
-The Kansas City Star
Settling Accounts: Return Engagement
"Strong, complex characters against a sweeping alt-historical background."
-Kirkus Reviews
Settling Accounts: In at the Death,
a New York Times bestseller
"Turtledove pulls out all the stops in a panoramic display of historical speculation. [He] sets the standard for alternate history and once more proves his worth."
-Library Journal

"From the Hardcover edition."

A fascinating theory of what might have happened if the Germans had refused to give up. Dayton Journal-News

This dark masterpiece ranks in the [Harry] Turtledove canon with the classic Guns of the South and How Few Remain. Booklist, starred review
Highly recommended . . . a pure page-turner . . . grounded in real history as well as contemporary headlines. Fantasy Book Critic
"

"A fascinating theory of what might have happened if the Germans had refused to give up."--Dayton Journal-News

"This dark masterpiece ranks in the [Harry] Turtledove canon with the classic Guns of the South and How Few Remain."--Booklist, starred review

"Highly recommended . . . a pure page-turner . . . grounded in real history as well as contemporary headlines."--Fantasy Book Critic

About the Author:

Harry Turtledove is an award-winning author of science fiction and fantasy. His alternate-history works include The Guns of the South; How Few Remain (winner of the Sidewise Award for Best Novel); 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 & Iron, The Center Cannot Hold, and Victorious Opposition; 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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Del Rey
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0345504348
• ISBN 13: 9780345504340
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 532