The Man with the Iron Heart | 
| Author: Harry Turtledove
Publisher: Del Rey
Category: Book
List Price: $27.00
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Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 21254
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 544
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.8
ISBN: 0345504348
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780345504340
ASIN: 0345504348
Publication Date: July 22, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: FAST SHIPPING, NORMAL SHELF WEAR, NO JACKET, COVER HAS MARKINGS AND DIRT AT EDGES
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Product Description
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 Obergruppenfuehrer 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 an 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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 18 more reviews...
 A Needed Allegory November 17, 2008
Robert B. Hebson Jr. (Birmingham, Alabama, USA)
I agree with other reviewers who say that the book is an allegory of our current involvement in Afghanistan and, particularly, Iraq.
Where perhaps my opinion diverges with some of theirs is in that I believe the allegory is one badly needed.
We've been subjected to any number of negative reports, stories, movies, etc. of our involvement. But we have not seen many- any?- that explore what might happen had we followed the advice of some and brought our troops home from Iraq in early 2006.
Military and political leaders told us that prematurely leaving Iraq before the nascent Iraqi Security Forces had received enough training to allow them to confront the threat themselves would prove disastrous not just to Iraq but to the entire Middle East. Opponents of the effort rejected that possibility, considering it either fanciful or simply not caring. Turtledove paints a rather pessimistic picture of a possible, even probable, result.
There was quite the ongoing debate during the pre-Surge period on how we might best deal with the insurgency. Turtledove explores the various counter-insurgency tactics that different nationalities- the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union-might use in response to the threat and I think he does an excellent job taking into account historical behaviors and the comparative strengths and weaknesses each might have on the conflict. His prose is unsparing, as it always is, but that is among his greatest strengths as a writer.
The one area in which I admit I thought the book fell flat was in having somewhat stereotypical characters. The French characters tended to be predictably arrogant. The Russian characters tended to be predictably chained to a rigid command structure and incapable of much in the way of personal initiative. The American characters tended to question all authority and benefit despite their near-anarchical command structure. While no one disagrees that these are historically-accurate to some degree, the characters here, for the most part, seem to be right out of 'central casting'. Most of Turtledove's historical characters from his earlier books ring enormously true- witness Harry Truman in this book- but, when compelled to create characters which did not exist historically, his efforts seem to be hit-and-miss. This shortcoming doesn;t hurt the book as much as one might think because the characters are allegorical and it is readily apparent to whom comparisoms to current personalities should be made.
In summation, it's not a bad read. I much prefer it to his recent Pearl Harbor alternate histories but it is not in the league of his alternative Civil War and aftermath books.
A Chiling Story November 1, 2008
James D. Crabtree (Fayetteville, NC USA)
Harry Turtledove takes an historical "what if," in this case, what if Heydrich survived an assassination attempt and lived long enough to lead the post-WWII Werewolf movement, and brings it to life.
The storyline is a good one. There WAS a werewolf movement after Germany was defeated but it rapidly died out, not least because Germany was war-weary and too interested in surviving than to cause trouble with the Allies. IF the werewolf movement had begun in 1943, as in Turtledove's book, instead of when Germany was being overrun then the personnel and weapons might have been in place to cause serious trouble for the Soviets and the Americans. However, I find it hard to believe that Heydrich would have had the foresight to plan all this out openly, since defeatism was punishable by death... even if you were a high-ranking SS officer. It would have been more realistic to believe that the movement might have been planned as something else, like a strategic reserve or something.
Attempts by Turtledove to draw parallels to this long-term guerilla war and the War in Iraq only serve to detract from the book and make it less realistic, realism being one of the reasons I prefer his books to other authors of alternate history. SS suicide bombers is stretching it, even though the Luftwaffe did employ ramming tactics ate in the war. The German, indeed the European mindset makes suicide bombing less acceptable. And there are other weaknesses as well but I won't bother going into them. It still makes an excellent read, if not as good as some of his other works.
 No Imagination October 8, 2008
M. Loreth
Being a big fan of Harry Turtledove,I am extremely disappointed in his latest book The Man With The Iron Heart. It seems all that was done was to take WWII Germany and turn it into present day Iraq. Osama Bin Laden was substituted with Reinhard Heydrich and the roles of present day Democrats and Republicans reversed. There are way to many similarities between the books setting and Iraq for it to be a coincidence and it seems to me that the author was more interested it getting a book out,then taking the time to write one. I for one hope the next book is in the same league as Harrys' past works which I have always eagerly awaited. The Man with the Iron Heart
Iraq 2004 in 1945? Not quite ... October 8, 2008
Philip B. Yochim (Louisville, KY)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Although the inspiration and similarities between the real-life Iraq War and the fictious plot of "The Man with the Iron Heart" are obvious, they are not quite parallels of each other.
In this novel, Harry Turtledove illustrates a massive, deadly resistance movement formed and led by SS officer Reinhard Heydrich. Heydrich, surviving the assassination attempt that, in real-life, actually killed him in 1942, returns from the defeat at Stalingrad to meet with Himmler and gets permission to organize a resistance against the eventually victorious allies. Soon after V-E day, waves of bombings and assassinations stun the Allies, and the sides react in predictable ways. The Russians react with cruelty: deportations and executions, after letting their troops rampage. The French, propped by the Anglo-Americans, also seek a pound of German flesh. The Anglo-Americans, though, wring their hands and pick at the pieces.
Turtledove's writing draws on his strengths of multiple, distinct characters, but still struggles with his usual flaws: redundant descriptions, the "you're right, but ..." conversations, and expressions and phrases he's used forever. At least we're spared the "Confederate cigarettes are better" deal.
One major parallel against Iraq, and a flaw in the total story, is the readiness of political leaders to run away. Iraq remains an optional war to fight, but we were drawn into and had to fight out World War Two. Plus, in a defeated Germany, the US would have to stay in or Russia would gobble up the spoils. No major foreign power could do the same in Iraq, but rather it would be a morass of jihadi groups.
Either way, the message, intentional or not, remains clear. We have to stay, like it or not, and see the end, or the consequences will be far worse.
 Great book September 22, 2008
Jeffrey T. Elder (chehalis, wa United States)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Turtledove hit a home run with this book. This is a stand alone book. This is not a sci-fi book but a good alternate history book. A good old what if??? story. It has modern Iraq all over it. Well worth your money if you like action.
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