Dixie Victorious: An Alternate History of the Civil War

If you know nothing about the American Civil War, this book is not for you: it assumes that you already have at least some background knowledge. I've never lived in the USA, but I happen to have read about this foreign war in the past, so I have some idea of what's going on here.

Each chapter describes a different way that the Confederacy might have won the war, in a parallel world with some slight alteration to the history we know. Here's a summary of the chapters, although the summaries don't do justice to the detailed research that's gone into them.

Chapter 1: Prince Albert dies a bit early, and the Trent incident in November 1861 leads to Britain and then France recognizing the Confederacy and declaring war on the USA.

Chapter 2: The Confederacy adopts a more aggressive and ambitious naval policy, and sells cotton abroad to finance it. This is more than a slight alteration to our history.

Chapter 3: In September 1962, Confederate Special Order 191 is deliberately allowed to fall into Union hands, giving McClellan a false idea of Confederate plans, to lead him into a trap. This is an amusing idea.

Chapter 4: Lee is not thrown from his horse at the end of August 1862, gets useful information from captured orders, wins the Battle of Frederick in mid-September, and moves on to occupy York, Pennsylvania. Britain offers mediation to end the conflict.

Chapter 5: Albert Sidney Johnston is seriously wounded at Shiloh, but survives to resume command in 1863 and defeat Grant at Vicksburg.

Chapter 6: In 1863, JEB Stuart is ordered to support the army closely and not to go off adventuring as he'd hoped to do. So Lee is kept much better informed, and defeats Meade in detail, in a series of battles smaller than the Gettysburg in our history.

Chapter 7: Braxton Bragg is seriously wounded at Chickamauga in 1863, and gives Longstreet (who has just arrived) command of the Army of Tennessee. Longstreet improves on Bragg, not performing miracles but doing just well enough to swing the US election to the Democrats.

Chapter 8: In early 1864, Lee intervenes and speaks up in favour of Cleburne's proposal to recruit slaves into the army with the promise of freedom, and Davis is reluctantly persuaded. This improves Southern manpower and reduces Northern motivation and morale.

Chapter 9: In 1864, the Red River campaign turns into a Union disaster, after which Confederates take Arkansas and Missouri.

Chapter 10: In summer 1864, Cleburne's division is removed from the West and sent to reinforce Early in the Shenandoah Valley. Also, Lincoln exposes himself to enemy fire (as in our history) and is shot dead. Early and Cleburne defeat and capture Sheridan.

As far as I can tell, the intention of the book is simply to entertain people who enjoy alternative history; although these stories are not told as fiction, but written in the style of military history. I'm more accustomed to reading fiction, but I found this book more entertaining than I expected.

Perhaps it deserves four stars, but I find it hard to work up that much enthusiasm for a book of military pseudo-history, even a good one. I might have given it three and a half if allowed; but for now I'll stick with three, which indicates simply that I liked the book.