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The Man with the Iron Heart

by Harry Turtledove

3.47 · rating details · 234 ratings · 31 reviews

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 Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, the notorious Man with ...moreWhat 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 Obergruppenführer 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.

From the Hardcover edition.(less)

Hardcover, 608 pages

Published July 22nd 2008 by Del Rey

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Sep 06, 2008

Tony duncan rated it

Recommends it for: sci fi history fanatics

Recommended to Tony by: eMusic audio

Shelves: audio, history, sci-fi-fantasy, politics

A very interesting idea for a book.
In this alternaitve History, there is one minor eventy that changed which allowed nazis tyo fight on after they "lost" the war. It mixes real historical personages with imoptant fictional characters and builds a very believable story about how it would play out, if the Nazis developed sophisticated terrorist technics while Germany was occupied.
This is much more subtle than the Orson Scott cvard book ( see my review of "Empire")....more

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Aug 12, 2008

Justin rated it

Shelves: literary-abortions

Sadly, this book was a huge disappointment. I am normally a huge fan of Harry Turtledove, but he seriously drops the ball in this book. Many of his other books cleverly integrate major historical events into the narrative and weave an interesting blend of history and fiction. This book, however, simply takes the current problems and arguments over the Iraq War and replaces insurgents with Nazis and George W. Bush with Harry Truman. The thing that I loved about Turtledove was that many of his na...more

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Feb 03, 2011

Scott Tarver rated it

A wonderful "what if" story about the Nazi werewolves following the end or World War II in Europe. It's hard for me to put the book down.

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Jun 13, 2010

Matimate rated it

Shelves: 2010, sci-fi

What I learned from this book ... absolutely nothing except one thing making an alternative history is the fancy way how to write about Nazi and toy with the things without being accused as sympathizer. Author toyed with different point of views and sometimes it swung in to the melodrama of cheap kind, wait it is all right after all this book is not highlight of the literature, so it is fitting.
The WW II was over and Nazi third Reich was the history, well not at all in the undergrounds w...more

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Feb 17, 2009

Melissa rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The first book that I ever read by Harry Turtledove was Guns of the South, and I remember really enjoying it. I saw this book at the library while randomly browsing through the new releases, so I immediately picked it up. Unfortunately, it wasn't nearly as good as I thought it would be.

The premise is interesting enough - a viable German resistance after World War 2 has officially "ended," carried out by a still-living Reinhard Heydrich - but the execution left a lot to be...moreThe first book that I ever read by Harry Turtledove was Guns of the South, and I remember really enjoying it. I saw this book at the library while randomly browsing through the new releases, so I immediately picked it up. Unfortunately, it wasn't nearly as good as I thought it would be.

The premise is interesting enough - a viable German resistance after World War 2 has officially "ended," carried out by a still-living Reinhard Heydrich - but the execution left a lot to be desired. In reality, this is less of an alternate history novel and more a thinly-veiled commentary on the current Iraq war.

Apparently the reader is supposed to believe that the Second World War and the Iraq war are quite similar to one another, which is ridiculous. The big difference, of course, is that Germany declared war on the United States (which really gave us no option but to fight against them), while the United States invaded Iraq by choice. This changes the whole perspective - except in Harry Turtledove's world.

So, really, reading this was like reading the news headlines from a few years ago, except replace "Iraqis" with "German Freedom Fighters," "Reinhard Heydrich" with "Saddam Hussein," "Harry Truman" with "George W. Bush," and "Diana McGraw" with "Cindy Sheehan." Also, the Democrats are the "good" guys now (they want to "stay the course," even if it takes forty or fifty years to do it), while the Republicans are those pesky people who think bringing home the troops is a good idea.

Turtledove's bias was obvious throughout the story, sometimes overwhelmingly so. Ironically enough, Truman isn't portrayed in a particularly rosy light, so I wonder if Turtledove is a fan of Bush and his policies. Regardless, it's definitely clear that Turtledove does not support bringing the troops home any time soon.

Cindy Sheehan - oh, wait, I'm sorry, Diana McGraw - is a particularly troublesome character to me. Her son, Pat, was killed after victory was declared in Europe. Angered by his death, she begins protesting, eventually spearheading a national movement that ultimately results in America withdrawing from Europe. During this, she becomes something of a pop icon and rubs elbows with a lot of famous/powerful/rich people. This makes her grow increasingly unsatisfied with her "boring" life at home with her "boring" husband, so she has a one-night stand with a man whose last name she doesn't even remember. I'm not sure if it was intentional (although I wouldn't be surprised if it WAS intentional), I got the distinct impression that the moral of that story was that the little woman should have stayed at home where she belonged. If only she hadn't decided to go out into the world, instead of staying in the kitchen, she never would have become dissatisfied with her life and an adulteress. It really left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Turtledove's constant harping on rape (both violent and non-violent but coercive) was also troubling to me. Yes, I am quite aware that there was an epidemic of rape after Germany was invaded, especially as carried out by the Russians. However, that doesn't mean that I want to read about it every twenty or so pages.

As for most of the others who appear in the book, there's little character development. You're introduced to dozens of characters whose only purpose is to die, which just doesn't make me feel connected to them, or their stories, at all.

I had to force myself to finish this book, and I was left greatly disappointed with it after finishing it. Maybe if I reread Guns of the South I wouldn't be so impressed with it (it's been several years since I read it), but I was expecting a much better story than what I got. And, as someone who has never supported invading Iraq, I found myself grinding my teeth regularly. I got the distinct impression that Mr. Turtledove thinks that people like me are idiots (those like me in the book were certainly portrayed in a less than favorable light), and that really soured the novel for me even more. I'll definitely think twice before picking up another book by him.(less)

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Jul 13, 2009

Bibliophile rated it

Shelves: 2009

Apparently June was my month for "what-if?" novels about Nazi Germany; after Philip Kerr's Hitler's Peace, I read Harry Turtledove's The Man with the Iron Heart, which posits that Reinhard Heydrich survived the attempt on his life in 1942 and went on to head a bloody Nazi resistance to the Allies after May 8, 1945. Turtledove draws extensively from contemporary events in Iraq to describe a world in which Nazi "Werewolves" blow up courthouses (and assassinate Konrad Adenauer ...more

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Oct 17, 2009

Christopher rated it

Shelves: alternate-history, fiction, wwii

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This not one of Turtledove's better works.

The initial idea is interesting. Why did Nazi Germany accept Allied occupation when so many other countries have fought long guerrilla wars against occupying forces? How is 1946 Germany different than 1979 Afghanistan or 1960s Vietnam? How is it like the former Confederate States in the 1860s?

These are important and valid questions that I feel were swept under the rug. Instead, the narrative seems strongly linked to the US e...moreThis not one of Turtledove's better works.

The initial idea is interesting. Why did Nazi Germany accept Allied occupation when so many other countries have fought long guerrilla wars against occupying forces? How is 1946 Germany different than 1979 Afghanistan or 1960s Vietnam? How is it like the former Confederate States in the 1860s?

These are important and valid questions that I feel were swept under the rug. Instead, the narrative seems strongly linked to the US experience in Iraq circa 2006 (before the Sunni Awakening and troop surge). However, if this book is a veiled commentary on Iraq, then Turtledove missed a perfect opportunity to weigh-in on one of the major debates in policy regarding the War on Terror - namely the use of extralegal force (torture, detention without rights, rendition, etc.). The division of post-war Germany into Western Allied and Soviet zones creates a opportunity to contrast the effectiveness of different tactics in counter-insurgency - between a buy 'em off/win hearts and minds plan used by the Americans and unbridled force used by the Russians. In our own history, these are the tactics that those two regimes did use. Instead, Turtledove shows us that the Soviet NKVD is certainly ruthless, but he never even mentions the Marshall Plan (which, in his defense was discussed but not yet implemented within the time-frame of the book.

Instead of answering deep military/historical questions or addressing the policy and moral arguments of the war he is modeling off of, Turtledove instead gives huge benefits of the doubt to the Nazi partisans. Heydrich's organization is presented as monolithic, with no internal power struggles. While their tactics are often taken from the al-Qaida playbook, Heydrich's men also succeed in multiple truck bombings of national monuments (proposed but only rarely completed by al-Qaida) and a dirty bomb attack. Competence at this level is not seen now and was not seen in 1940s Germany (Just read up on the many attempts to assassinate Adolf Hitler to see just how large the logistical and pure luck challenges of such campaigns can be). The most annoying benefit given to Heydrich though is in the surprising backbone given to Republican opposition to Truman's prosecution of the war in Germany. Although Congress does control the purse-strings, and progressives did argue strongly for cutting-off funding for the Iraq War after the 2006 mid-term elections, a successful recall of troops from an overseas war due to Congressional budget-writing never saw a chance of happening. In Turtledove's world it sailed through entirely too easily.

In all, I feel like this book was forced. Ideas were not well thought-out and our heroes were hamstrung by an author who failed to properly research their options.

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Jan 07, 2010

Steven Kent rated it

This was the second book I have read by Harry Turtledove, an author I have long admired for his imaginative misuse of history. It takes a lot of research and confidence for a writer to successfully twist history and illustrate what could have been. You need to know the setting, the technology, and the personalities inside and out, and few authors can do that like Mr. Turtledove.

In this case, I was not swept away by the plot itself--a story about the Nazis losing the war and then ne...more

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Mar 29, 2009

Matt rated it

Recommends it for: anyone curious about Iraq and WWII

Recommended to Matt by: Audible

Shelves: alternate-history

Turtledove presents and interesting premise: what if the Nazi's started a guerrilla war with the US occupation of Germany? I was drawn to it because I read the book Fiasco, a book by Thomas Ricks about the Iraq war, and I wanted to see how it compared with Turtledove's re-interpretation.

My favorite part was seeing how Turtledove portrayed the two powers affected by the Nazi insurgency -- the US and Russia -- and how they differed in fighting it. It brought to light some of the "...more

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Sep 06, 2008

Aaron rated it

In a tale that parallels todays debate about the war in Iraq and our battles againtst al-Qaeda, Turtledove's most recent novel presents an alternate timeline in which World War II did not quite conclude with V-E Day. The Nazi's have continued fighting under the leadership of Reinhard Heydrich, who was the second in command of the SS. In reality he died in 1942, when he was attacked by Czech assassins. Turtledove has him survive and start an underground resistance group as Germany is falling to t...moreIn a tale that parallels todays debate about the war in Iraq and our battles againtst al-Qaeda, Turtledove's most recent novel presents an alternate timeline in which World War II did not quite conclude with V-E Day. The Nazi's have continued fighting under the leadership of Reinhard Heydrich, who was the second in command of the SS. In reality he died in 1942, when he was attacked by Czech assassins. Turtledove has him survive and start an underground resistance group as Germany is falling to the approaching Allies.

Heydrich's techniques are strongly influenced by the kamikaze pilots used be the Japanese to take out American ships. Nazis are using some of their people as human bombs, sacrificing themselves to bring back the fallen Vaderland.

France, Britain, the US, and the Soviets still take there occupied areas, but find that the German partisans are more than happy to take the opportunity to strike repeatedly, taking out major players like Patton and Adenaur, and wiping out some cities and major monuments.

As more and more Americans are dying, support for staying in Germany after the completion of the war dwindles and their is a strong movement to end the war, particularly on the part of the Republicans, who are hoping to gain back power in Congress (and eventually the White House) by tearing down Truman's plans.

As with most of his book, Turtledove does a great job presenting history (in the form of an alternate) through the eyes of everyday people such as the mother of a lost soldier, the leader of the Soviet forces in East Germany, the man assigned to find Heydrich, and everyday soldiers fighting in a war that is supposed to already be over.

I really liked the book, but found it eerie. The parallels are realistic and echo many of the reports I have heard about the Iraq War and does a good job presenting both sides of the debate while not portraying either side as being evil. In some ways, I thought that the story was presented by too many perspectives, making the novel drag a bit in some areas, but I can see why Turtledove made the choices he made.

There is a wonderful Author's Note at the end that talks a bit about the real Heydrich for those unfamiliar with him.(less)

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Oct 01, 2009

Sheri rated it

Fans of Harry Turtledove and newcomers to his science fiction involving alternate histories of World War II will appreciate the exciting study of what happens to a country that surrenders but the soldiers continue to battle on in the Man with the Iron Heart. The analogy to many peace keeping situations in the world is informative while the contest between civil government and guerilla warfare keeps the pages turning.
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Aug 03, 2011

Jansen Wee rated it

· review of another edition

While I enjoy Turtledove's historical fiction books, I find this particular title lacking in originality. If this had been published a decade earlier, it would have been prescient. As it is, the tactics the guerillas used seemed to be anachronistically juxtaposed from the 9/11 through the Iraq occupation by US forces period. Also, the author does not appear to be fully conversant when describing the SS regalia/insignia on Heydrich's uniform. Moderately enjoyable read.

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Jun 13, 2008

Liviu rated it

Shelves: genre-sf, 2008_release_read, review_fbc

This book has a simple premise:

What if Germany after the surrender in 1945 would have been like Iraq after the surrender in 2003? R. Heydrich is not assassinated in Prague in 1943 and prepares the resistance for 2 years before Germany loses.

The action proper starts in May 1945, just after the surrender, with 2 US soldiers looking at a German civilian that seems to check out the wreckage of a truck to see if there is something that can be salvaged - of course we "know...more

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Aug 31, 2009

Stefan rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction-and-alt-history

The Man With The Iron Heart is fun to read and raises some interesting and important points about what would have happened if the SS and German Armed Forces had conducted commando and partisan activity after the collapse of the Third Reich. The premise of the book is that the assassination attempt against Reinhard Heydrich in 1942 failed and that Heydrich went on to command the werewolf organization. One of the main questions that Turtledove entertainingly tries to answer in this novel is how th...more

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Jan 26, 2012

Doug rated it

I thought the premise for the book was very interesting, and although many of the reviewers don't like the direct corelation with our situation in Iraq/Afghanistan, I still found it fascinating to see how the story played out.

I didn't rate the novel more highly because of the lack of depth in the characters and some of the personal story lines. It felt to me that the author was trying to cover a broad set of people involved, but never really explored any one of them in too much dept...more

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Sep 15, 2010

Matt rated it

I really enjoyed this book. I think it is a very good prediction of what would have happened if the Nazis had actually had a successful resistance. It also makes you think about what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan and if we should rely be pulling troops out.

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Jan 08, 2009

Mark rated it

As usual, a Turtledove book with some great ideas and workmanlike writing. Characters exist to move the story forward, not as actual people.

And still, the alternative history fascinates me enough that I manage to slog through it.

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Oct 09, 2009

Markmanning502 rated it

I didn't particularly enjoy this book. I don't think it was one of Turtledove's better attempts. I was glad to read it, but it isn't on my favorite list of books. It raises some interesting "what-ifs" however, and has some relevant points to what is going on in Iraq and Afghanistan today.

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Jul 24, 2011

Brian Eshleman added it

The premise is interesting -- what if the Germans engaged in guerrilla warfare rather than surrender? Truman dug-in for the long fight is believable. The degree to which this is a M*A*S*H-style commentary on current events is distracting, as is every character's fixation on booze and sex and use of the same phrases.

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May 08, 2011

John rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: box2, 1fiction

I'm usually a fan of Turtledove, not this one. Seems to be based on the Iraq war and a what if the Nazi underground after the war obtained nuclear material. Not one of my favorites

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Oct 01, 2009

Sheri rated it

· review of another edition

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Dec 19, 2009

Rob Roy rated it

As usual with Turtledove, wonderful characterization. However, the premise doesn't work. Germany in 1946 is not like Iraq.

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Apr 29, 2009

Ron rated it

Shelves: alternate-history, world-war-2

Interesting look at what an Iraq type situation may have played out in Germany at the end of WWII.

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Nov 15, 2010

Kevin rated it

good but not turtledove's best

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Sep 02, 2008

Kathy rated it

Shelves: alternate-history

Typical Turtledove....he writes the same characters over and over again but you read the new books anyway for the changed context and the fun of agreeing or disagreeing with his take on how history could have changed.

In this case, having spent a considerable amount of time studying post-war Germany, he creates a credible and compelling portrait of what could have been different. Although I personally think he underestimates the amount of German participation in de-Nazification and Ge...more

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Aug 03, 2011

Steve added it

enjoyed it....

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May 08, 2009

T. Mans rated it

Current problems we are having in Iraq applied to Post WWII Germany. Interesting and entertaining.

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Oct 01, 2010

Derek rated it

Shelves: 2010-read-books

A rare miss for Mr. Turtledove. Not once did I ever not finish one of Harry's books once I started it. This one came close. This book wasn't his usual engrossing affair - it was tedious and dragged throughout. An interesting idea, in theory, but the novel itself failed to urge me to keep reading. I finished it for the sake of completing the read.

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Sep 23, 2009

David R. rated it

The Quintessential Turtledove novel. Take one historical episode (in this case, the American struggle over the War in Iraq) and impose it on a different historical instance (in this case, the aftermath of WWII). It's a crisp and well-wrought story, although really and honestly too many liberties are taken with how things might have turned out.

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Oct 05, 2011

Jeff rated it

Not precisely a Turtledud here but it didn't crackle with the intensity and historical toggle points of say "Guns of the South."

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About Harry Turtledove

Harry Norman Turtledove (born June 14, 1949) is an American novelist, who has produced works in several genres including alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction.

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