Currently Rereading... Guns Of The South by Harry Turtledove

This is one of the books that I found sticking out of my book shelves when I was selecting books to donate to the Continuum fundraising raffle. It's a favourite of mine.

In case you haven't heard of it, Guns Of The South is one of a number of "What if the South had won the Civil War?" novels. Unlike some others, it doesn't depend on a slight difference in a historical event, but begins with time travelling South African racists who give Robert E Lee AK 47 guns as well as warning him about certain future events. They do admit that once history has changed they won't be able to predict any more.

One interesting result of the South's victory in this novel is that a certain Abraham Lincoln isn't assassinated, though he isn't President any more.

The two viewpoints here are Robert E Lee himself  and Nate Caudell, a school teacher who has become a sergeant in the Confederate forces. We share the thoughts of these two men and, through Nate, see what life might have been like for ordinary soldiers. One of these soldiers, by the way, is a woman disguised as a man - something that was actually fairly common in that war. In this case, Molllie aka Melvin is a prostitute in her regular life, so the men in her unit are happy to keep her secret.

I enjoyed it first time around and am still enjoying.

Anyone out there read it? What do you think?