To Turn The Tide
Just finished reading "To Turn The Tide" by S.M. Stirling, published by Baen Books.
"To Turn The Tide" is an open love letter by Stirling to L. Sprague de Camp's 1941 novel, "Lest Darkness Fall" where Martin Padway, an American archeologist, is visiting Italy in 1938, When he is caught in a thunderstorm, and struck by lightning. He finds himself transported to Rome in the year AD 535. At this time, the Italian Peninsula is under the rule of the Ostrogoths. Padway had studied the works of Procopius, memorizing them completely, and he realizes he has arrived on the eve of the Gothic War. Concluding that he has no hope of returning home, Padway establishes an identity as Martinus Paduei (i.e., Martin of Padua) and sets about stabilizing the Italian kingdom with 19th and 20th century technology, while neutralizing the Emperor Justinian I's efforts to take back the Italian Peninsula.
Stirling's reluctant one-way time travelers are "kidnapped" back in time by a desperate researcher who is trying to save humanity from being destroyed in 2032 by a Sino-American Nuclear War. The plan is to send five university classic scholars back in time with a ton of equipment that they will need to prevent the fall of Rome, with the idea of preventing the war that destroyed humanity and left the Earth a radioactive ash-heap.
Stirling doesn't dwell overly on the technology of time travel that sends his five Classics scholars back to Rome. He just snatches his viewpoint characters up and throws them into the cold, deep waters of Roman Pannonia for them to sink or swim. Neither does he give them much time to catch their breath before he plunges them into a credible series of events that allow them to bootstrap themselves into Pannonian society. No instant Lincoln here, trying to reform every societal institution abruptly; just the cunning application of a modern world-view to ancient culture which generates subtle, local changes.
Stirling, who is one of the masters of Alternative History, has written a tight, compelling novel with realistic people who suddenly have the entire weight of the world and the fate of humanity in their hands, full knowing the consequences if they fail.
STRONGLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/Turn-Tide-Make...
"To Turn The Tide" is an open love letter by Stirling to L. Sprague de Camp's 1941 novel, "Lest Darkness Fall" where Martin Padway, an American archeologist, is visiting Italy in 1938, When he is caught in a thunderstorm, and struck by lightning. He finds himself transported to Rome in the year AD 535. At this time, the Italian Peninsula is under the rule of the Ostrogoths. Padway had studied the works of Procopius, memorizing them completely, and he realizes he has arrived on the eve of the Gothic War. Concluding that he has no hope of returning home, Padway establishes an identity as Martinus Paduei (i.e., Martin of Padua) and sets about stabilizing the Italian kingdom with 19th and 20th century technology, while neutralizing the Emperor Justinian I's efforts to take back the Italian Peninsula.
Stirling's reluctant one-way time travelers are "kidnapped" back in time by a desperate researcher who is trying to save humanity from being destroyed in 2032 by a Sino-American Nuclear War. The plan is to send five university classic scholars back in time with a ton of equipment that they will need to prevent the fall of Rome, with the idea of preventing the war that destroyed humanity and left the Earth a radioactive ash-heap.
Stirling doesn't dwell overly on the technology of time travel that sends his five Classics scholars back to Rome. He just snatches his viewpoint characters up and throws them into the cold, deep waters of Roman Pannonia for them to sink or swim. Neither does he give them much time to catch their breath before he plunges them into a credible series of events that allow them to bootstrap themselves into Pannonian society. No instant Lincoln here, trying to reform every societal institution abruptly; just the cunning application of a modern world-view to ancient culture which generates subtle, local changes.
Stirling, who is one of the masters of Alternative History, has written a tight, compelling novel with realistic people who suddenly have the entire weight of the world and the fate of humanity in their hands, full knowing the consequences if they fail.
STRONGLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/Turn-Tide-Make...
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