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The War in 2020
In Soviet Central Asia, 2020, a decaying Soviet Union is on the brink of disaster. Their only hope is America's Seventh Cavalry, who plunge into the horrors of war in the new millennium. "The military counterpart of Orwell's 1984. . . . is not for the fainthearted. . . ".--New York Times Book Review.
624 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 1991
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About the author
Ralph Peters
76 books225 followersRalph Peters is a novelist, an essayist, a former career soldier, and an adventurer in the 19th-century sense. He is the author of a dozen critically acclaimed novels, two influential works on strategy, "Beyond Terror" and "Fighting for the Future".
Mr. Peters' works can also be found under the pen name "Owen Parry." He also appears frequently as a commentator on television and radio networks.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/ralphp...
Mr. Peters' works can also be found under the pen name "Owen Parry." He also appears frequently as a commentator on television and radio networks.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/ralphp...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
May 28, 2021
I first read this book back when it came out and thought it was okay. I loaned my copy out and never saw it again, so when the opportunity came to pick this up cheap [$1 or $2] I bought another copy. It is an interesting novel, well-written. I think the most interesting thing for me was how he tried to look in to the future and came up with some crazy ideas for the time period it was written. So many other authors during that time wrote about the omnipotence of the United States and how we would generally kick grass in any situation [at least, the ones I read did], so it was very interesting to read a novel where the United States got its teeth kicked in by the South Africans and Japanese military forces and then had to deal with the aftermath of a plague devastation the global economy. Other than maybe full-blown sci-fi authors, it seemed like Peters introduced concepts that were light years ahead of his time for the type of thriller that he wrote.
The torture of the Japanese battle computer was nuts, and kind of comedic [but so was the droid torture scene in 'Return of the Jedi'].
The book is obviously dated - it was written in 1991, so there is no mention of the second Gulf War, the War on Terror, or any other major incidents that occurred globally between 1991 and now. It makes passing reference to the mineral wealth of Siberia but no reference to Russia attempting to capitalize on that wealth. Many changes have occurred in the world, but we did not have to wait until 2020 to have our first African-American president.
It did not have a 'happy ending' for the hero; he did not ride off into the sunset with his lover. But I felt this was more authentic because the world does not always have a happy ending and it is foolish to believe otherwise.
I liked it more this time around reading it.
The torture of the Japanese battle computer was nuts, and kind of comedic [but so was the droid torture scene in 'Return of the Jedi'].
The book is obviously dated - it was written in 1991, so there is no mention of the second Gulf War, the War on Terror, or any other major incidents that occurred globally between 1991 and now. It makes passing reference to the mineral wealth of Siberia but no reference to Russia attempting to capitalize on that wealth. Many changes have occurred in the world, but we did not have to wait until 2020 to have our first African-American president.
It did not have a 'happy ending' for the hero; he did not ride off into the sunset with his lover. But I felt this was more authentic because the world does not always have a happy ending and it is foolish to believe otherwise.
I liked it more this time around reading it.
July 27, 2011
This book was absolutely amazing.
In an odd backstory of how the book came to me, it was sent to my mom to then give to me, sent by a friend of a woman she knew only through phone calls and email correspondence, as they were employed by the same company, my mom in California, her friend/co-worker in Texas. My mom had mentioned that I am a writer, and the friend of a friend thought I would enjoy this book. He mailed it to my mom. Then, sadly, he died.
In my mind I imagine it to be one of the last things he did before he passed.
I began reading the book, but wasn't ready for it.
Author Ralph Peters is referred to as the Tolstoy of military fiction; I can see why. His writing is so nuanced and detailed that it is seamless in its description and advancement of the action. This style also makes for a 600+-page book. Personally, I like long books, especially when they're well written, as this one so powerfully is. Like Stephen King says, he likes to write books in the 400-page rage, books "the reader can get happily lost in."
About a month ago, I grabbed THE WAR IN 2020 off my shelf. It had been nagging me for about the past 4 or 5 years, considering the circumstances under which it came to me.
Given that I'm working on a YA/UF/Paranormal teen adventure series with military adventure elements, combined with that nagging feeling, I picked up TWI2020 again. This time it captured me and wouldn't let go.
It's been awhile since I read a book which so grabbed my attention that pretty much all I did for 4 days was read it.
TWI2020 did that. I couldn't put it down. When I had to put it down, like to drive, I was still thinking about it.
Ralph Peters' writing is SO vivid and detailed that it was like I was there, on the mission with the men in uniform. It made me understand what it must have been like for Seal Team 6 when they went into Pakistan and got Bin Laden (fucker). Ralph Peters was an U.S. Army Foreign Area Officer and speaks 4 or 5 languages, including Russian. Clearly he understands the mindsets of many of the various cultures in Asia. His commentary on these cultures is more applicable today than when he wrote his book (1991). His insights into the mindset of the people we are aiding/fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq are scary.
If you want a riveting read that can be enjoyed by anyone, not just fans of military fiction, give TWI2020 a shot. It's more about people than fast-paced adventure which only skims the surface of the human experience, a complaint often voiced by those not fans of the genre.
Highly recommend this book.
In an odd backstory of how the book came to me, it was sent to my mom to then give to me, sent by a friend of a woman she knew only through phone calls and email correspondence, as they were employed by the same company, my mom in California, her friend/co-worker in Texas. My mom had mentioned that I am a writer, and the friend of a friend thought I would enjoy this book. He mailed it to my mom. Then, sadly, he died.
In my mind I imagine it to be one of the last things he did before he passed.
I began reading the book, but wasn't ready for it.
Author Ralph Peters is referred to as the Tolstoy of military fiction; I can see why. His writing is so nuanced and detailed that it is seamless in its description and advancement of the action. This style also makes for a 600+-page book. Personally, I like long books, especially when they're well written, as this one so powerfully is. Like Stephen King says, he likes to write books in the 400-page rage, books "the reader can get happily lost in."
About a month ago, I grabbed THE WAR IN 2020 off my shelf. It had been nagging me for about the past 4 or 5 years, considering the circumstances under which it came to me.
Given that I'm working on a YA/UF/Paranormal teen adventure series with military adventure elements, combined with that nagging feeling, I picked up TWI2020 again. This time it captured me and wouldn't let go.
It's been awhile since I read a book which so grabbed my attention that pretty much all I did for 4 days was read it.
TWI2020 did that. I couldn't put it down. When I had to put it down, like to drive, I was still thinking about it.
Ralph Peters' writing is SO vivid and detailed that it was like I was there, on the mission with the men in uniform. It made me understand what it must have been like for Seal Team 6 when they went into Pakistan and got Bin Laden (fucker). Ralph Peters was an U.S. Army Foreign Area Officer and speaks 4 or 5 languages, including Russian. Clearly he understands the mindsets of many of the various cultures in Asia. His commentary on these cultures is more applicable today than when he wrote his book (1991). His insights into the mindset of the people we are aiding/fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq are scary.
If you want a riveting read that can be enjoyed by anyone, not just fans of military fiction, give TWI2020 a shot. It's more about people than fast-paced adventure which only skims the surface of the human experience, a complaint often voiced by those not fans of the genre.
Highly recommend this book.
July 19, 2015
I picked this book up on vacation in Amsterdam at age 13. I got it from a flea market at the price €.5. While half a Euro was not a great dent in my vacation spending money, I was unfortunately not yet in the habit of recognizing and putting away terrible books. For years later, The War In 2020 made a decent, if somewhat clumsy, improvised flyswatter. I consider a half euro fly swatter to be fair value, but the time spent reading the book was certainly wasted.
The book is racist, nationalist garbage. But even if you like that kind of thing, I urge you to look elsewhere for your injection of unironic "America-Fuck-Yeah" raging military hard-on literature. Because none of those things bothered me when I read this book as a kid, and yet I could still tell how awful it was. The characters, when they're not simply lazy stereotypes, feature all the depth of action-movie cardboard cutouts.
Finally, the dramatic finale makes no damn sense. I won't spoil it here, but it must surely go down as one of the most contrived, nonsense ideas to have ever been put on paper.
If you're still considering reading this, just go re-read some Tom Clancy. I guarantee you'll be happier in the end.
The book is racist, nationalist garbage. But even if you like that kind of thing, I urge you to look elsewhere for your injection of unironic "America-Fuck-Yeah" raging military hard-on literature. Because none of those things bothered me when I read this book as a kid, and yet I could still tell how awful it was. The characters, when they're not simply lazy stereotypes, feature all the depth of action-movie cardboard cutouts.
Finally, the dramatic finale makes no damn sense. I won't spoil it here, but it must surely go down as one of the most contrived, nonsense ideas to have ever been put on paper.
If you're still considering reading this, just go re-read some Tom Clancy. I guarantee you'll be happier in the end.
August 30, 2020
What better way to celebrate the 8000th day of the actual year 2020 than reading a vintage technothriller from 1990 about 2020? The War in 2020 holds up on the basis of solid character work and some decent futurism.
Peters imagines a future with a declining America and an ascendant Japan, using next generation electronic warfare and lasers to crush an ill-planned 2005 expeditionary force in Africa. In the first dozen or so pages our protagonist, Taylor, is shot down, escapes back to friendly lines over thousands of miles of plague ridden anarchy, and survives a bout with the fictional Runicman's Disease, a complex and deadly viral infection. The action skips forward in time, though quelling riots in Los Angeles and counter-insurgency in Mexico, before again finding solid ground.
It's 2020 in Central Asia, and things are bad. The Soviet Union is falling back before a vast Muslim army consisting of Iraqi Sunnis, Iranian Shiites, and people from the various -stans. The army is slaughtering refugees with nerve gas, and the whole thing is being masterminded by Japan, which is supplying weapons and senior leadership. The last, best hope of stability in Central Asia is Taylor and his 7th Cavalry, reconstituted with M-100 gunships. The M-100s are tiltrotor VTOLS along the line of the V-22, but armed with a miniature railgun. Taylor and his men have to deal with Russian obstructionism and the friction, of combat, but they launch a sweeping cavalry raid that destroys the Japanese depots, and then when there's retaliation by a secret terror weapon (which I'll not spoil, because it's pretty good), Taylor has to launch one more desperate raid to hack the Japanese command computer. As he puts it in one of the book's better lines, a lot of wars are lost by the first side to give up, because you know how bad you're hurting, but you have to guess at the enemy's circumstances, and they might be even worse off than you.
As I said, the characterization is solid. Taylor is a stoic, classic soldier, but the bonds between his command staff feels very real. Peters has a talent for pacing, and not getting lost in the technical pornography of violence. He knows how to make the victories feel earned, because winning hurts.
An author's note at the end places this book as a serious attempt to grapple with the possibility that America might lose it's military-technological edge, and how that might resolve. As such, the Japanese are the adversaries, but there's very little of the worst kinds of 90s yellow peril. It's also an attempt to grapple seriously with political fundamentalist Islam (good foresight there), but it leads him down some Islamophobic roads, As the Muslim characters are universally murderous fanatics incapable of dealing with modernity. Finally, as a military thriller, this book is heavy on male perspective, and two women featured as viewpoint characters see themselves primarily through sexual bargaining. They're whores, whether in Moscow or Washington DC. The inability to form real relationships with women is a key psychological subtext. It's not great, but about par for the genre.
I picked this book up at an outdoor booksale and carted it around with me for years. Not sure this battered paperback will survive another bookshelf purge, but it's been a fun read.
Peters imagines a future with a declining America and an ascendant Japan, using next generation electronic warfare and lasers to crush an ill-planned 2005 expeditionary force in Africa. In the first dozen or so pages our protagonist, Taylor, is shot down, escapes back to friendly lines over thousands of miles of plague ridden anarchy, and survives a bout with the fictional Runicman's Disease, a complex and deadly viral infection. The action skips forward in time, though quelling riots in Los Angeles and counter-insurgency in Mexico, before again finding solid ground.
It's 2020 in Central Asia, and things are bad. The Soviet Union is falling back before a vast Muslim army consisting of Iraqi Sunnis, Iranian Shiites, and people from the various -stans. The army is slaughtering refugees with nerve gas, and the whole thing is being masterminded by Japan, which is supplying weapons and senior leadership. The last, best hope of stability in Central Asia is Taylor and his 7th Cavalry, reconstituted with M-100 gunships. The M-100s are tiltrotor VTOLS along the line of the V-22, but armed with a miniature railgun. Taylor and his men have to deal with Russian obstructionism and the friction, of combat, but they launch a sweeping cavalry raid that destroys the Japanese depots, and then when there's retaliation by a secret terror weapon (which I'll not spoil, because it's pretty good), Taylor has to launch one more desperate raid to hack the Japanese command computer. As he puts it in one of the book's better lines, a lot of wars are lost by the first side to give up, because you know how bad you're hurting, but you have to guess at the enemy's circumstances, and they might be even worse off than you.
As I said, the characterization is solid. Taylor is a stoic, classic soldier, but the bonds between his command staff feels very real. Peters has a talent for pacing, and not getting lost in the technical pornography of violence. He knows how to make the victories feel earned, because winning hurts.
An author's note at the end places this book as a serious attempt to grapple with the possibility that America might lose it's military-technological edge, and how that might resolve. As such, the Japanese are the adversaries, but there's very little of the worst kinds of 90s yellow peril. It's also an attempt to grapple seriously with political fundamentalist Islam (good foresight there), but it leads him down some Islamophobic roads, As the Muslim characters are universally murderous fanatics incapable of dealing with modernity. Finally, as a military thriller, this book is heavy on male perspective, and two women featured as viewpoint characters see themselves primarily through sexual bargaining. They're whores, whether in Moscow or Washington DC. The inability to form real relationships with women is a key psychological subtext. It's not great, but about par for the genre.
I picked this book up at an outdoor booksale and carted it around with me for years. Not sure this battered paperback will survive another bookshelf purge, but it's been a fun read.
August 20, 2011
Sci-Fi with the elements of alternate history (for the Soviet Union). As a westerner, Peters couldn't help inserting far too many false stereotypes about life in the USSR. Unfortunately, he's not the only one among British or US authors. But these stereotypical writing style spoils the whole impression for readers who grew up in the USSR and remember what life there really was.
July 22, 2012
This book is horrible. It has it all: flimsy plot, racist stereotypes, hackneyed dialogue, flag-waving jingoism, gaping plot holes, and flat characterization. I'm forgetting something. Oh yeah, dumbassery. There is a whole lot of dumbassery in this book.
I know what you're doing right now. You are looking from this review to the number of stars I gave the book and back again. "How in tarnation can he give this pap a three star rating if it's such a terrible book?" you're saying as you stroke your chin.
If you're not stroking your chin at this point, it would be a good time to start.
Anyway, to answer the question that you asked in the paragraph previous to the paragraph above, I can give this pap a three star rating because for some stupid reason I enjoyed it. There, I said it. I enjoyed this racist chest-thumping nationalistic excuse for a book.
Other bad things that I enjoy:
- Pizza pockets (generic brand).
- Steven Seagal movies. Really? Yes. Really.
- Chad Kroeger's beard.
- The music of Maxi Priest.
- Microwaved hot dogs.
- Roast pheasant . . . oh wait, how'd that get on the list? *laughs snootily*
Anyway, this book sucks and I like it.
I know what you're doing right now. You are looking from this review to the number of stars I gave the book and back again. "How in tarnation can he give this pap a three star rating if it's such a terrible book?" you're saying as you stroke your chin.
If you're not stroking your chin at this point, it would be a good time to start.
Anyway, to answer the question that you asked in the paragraph previous to the paragraph above, I can give this pap a three star rating because for some stupid reason I enjoyed it. There, I said it. I enjoyed this racist chest-thumping nationalistic excuse for a book.
Other bad things that I enjoy:
- Pizza pockets (generic brand).
- Steven Seagal movies. Really? Yes. Really.
- Chad Kroeger's beard.
- The music of Maxi Priest.
- Microwaved hot dogs.
- Roast pheasant . . . oh wait, how'd that get on the list? *laughs snootily*
Anyway, this book sucks and I like it.
August 11, 2012
This is a deeply flawed book. I would have rated this two stars except for its continual flashes of excellence.
Sex and race relations within the novel are disturbed. It is almost as if Peters tried to show complexity and sensitivity within an underlying racism and sexism. The end result is rather unbelievable.
The actual plot is preposterous. Yet it shows solid internal consistency. Again, bad yet good.
What surprised me most is that there is proper elegance and beauty in Peters' writing at times. Often I admired how well-crafted a paragraph would be. This is unusual in the genre.
This is neither a great nor even a good novel. I note that Peters has written many more novels since this one. I hope they show improvement.
Sex and race relations within the novel are disturbed. It is almost as if Peters tried to show complexity and sensitivity within an underlying racism and sexism. The end result is rather unbelievable.
The actual plot is preposterous. Yet it shows solid internal consistency. Again, bad yet good.
What surprised me most is that there is proper elegance and beauty in Peters' writing at times. Often I admired how well-crafted a paragraph would be. This is unusual in the genre.
This is neither a great nor even a good novel. I note that Peters has written many more novels since this one. I hope they show improvement.
September 5, 2008
In a world where the US loses it's influence one war after another due to policy mistakes by its political leaders and the failure to meet high expectations of countless foreign cultures, a single air cavalry soldier has suffered it all. Now, during the war in 2020, when a Pan Aisian coalition has invaded the destitute Soviet Union, the US comes out of isolation with a new helicoptor gunship force led by the protagonist to attack the enemy at its nerve center. Scarred by a virus, cynicism, and a woman who turned him away, his love of country and his comrades will save democracy.
June 8, 2021
To set the book in context: it was finished in 1990 and published in 1991. The invasion of Panama had already taken place. There is a comment on page 21 referencing Desert Shield, so with the "date stamp" of "04 April, 1990" at the end of the story, it feels like the reference to Desert Shield may have been added to give a "reference date" in the book for the events that transpire afterwards (especially as it would have gone to print too late for any references to Desert Storm to be made). During the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was believed that Japan was going to conquer the United States economically as well as possibly the rest of the world because of its powerful, expanding economy at the time. This was especially seen in popular works of fiction during that time (in works written by Michael Crichton, Clive Cussler, and Tom Clancy, to name a few). It was also believed that gangs were going to take over the United States and “run things,” that the federal and state governments would be powerless before them. You could walk into B. Dalton Booksellers and Waldenbooks in malls and see numerous biographies about supposed gang members (most tended to be posing primarily with Uzis, but some would have pistols, knives, or other weapons) with portions of their faces blocked by with black squares to protect their identities. I remember The Seventh Carrier book series about the “seventh Japanese aircraft carrier that failed to make it to Pearl Harbor” being popular during this time as well (but putting the Japanese in the role of saviors and heroes as opposed to villains, despite this carrier successfully attacking Pearl Harbor a second time, but in the modern era in the first book). It was also a time when books about super bugs/super viruses were in vogue as well.
The book starts in 2005 in Africa, then jumps to Los Angeles in 2008 and Mexico in 2016 before the story picks up in Russia and Central Asia (of the Soviet Union) in 2020. It is an interesting book in how the story does move fairly fast, for the most part. It does lag in some parts, and it has some "hard moments" in it . There are some moments, though, where the author just shines in his writing; these are mostly moments in battle, and the author does a crazy job of getting the reader "into those moments" and making the reader feel the intensity, the emotions, and the whoosh of energy afterwards. He does a nice job of explaining "technobabble" (be it military, scientific, or "specialized civilian") in ways that are easy to understand and that do not ruin the flow of the book. The character development is well done; I still found myself caring about many of the various characters in the book and getting various emotional responses generated at moments in the story .
The book is an interesting set of contrasts, if you will. It feels "prescient" in many ways, but it's really not. It has numerous mistakes in it, looking back at it in comparison to the events of the last 30 years.
There were some quotes/lines in the book that stood out to me.
Lieutenant, it would be a wonderful thing if military service consisted of nothing but doing the right thing when the choices are easy, of kicking the **** out of some evil foreign ************ with horns and tails, then coming home to a big parade. Unfortunately, it also consists of trying to figure out what the **** the right thing can possibly be when the orders are unclear, the mission stinks, and everybody's in a hopeless muddle. A soldier's duty . . . is to do an honest days work in dishonest times . . . and to make the best out of the worst ******* mess imaginable. It means . . . believing in your heart that some things are more important than your personal devils . . . or even your personal beliefs. It means the willingness to give up . . . everything. And sometimes it just means lacing up your boots one more time when the whole world's going to **** (43).
Greatness. Power. Was it too easy to confuse the two concepts? And what was greatness without honor? The greatness of a barbarian. . . . The Japanese people, humiliated by the kindness of their enemies, had had no choice but to humiliate those enemies in return (163).
This one made me laugh: No place on earth was lonelier or vaster than Nebraska on an October night (212). I would beg to differ on that one, hahahah!
If the Americans were this good at so trivial an endeavor as running a restaurant . . . you had to wonder whether they might not be considerably better at military art than his (Russian) superiors were willing to credit (324).
No Magdalene had ever felt so deep and genuine a contrition (330). This stood out to me because the author has his Biblical characters mixed up; Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute but is often confused with another Mary mentioned in the Gospels who was a prostitute. Poor form on his part for not getting that right.
Overall, I would probably rate this a solid 3-stars. There were parts that were rather well written. There were parts that were not. I enjoyed the story, and even though I have read it . . . four times, now, the author's writing still manages to generate tension and suspense at "key moments" in the book. All the same, it was "fun" (on some levels) to revisit this book (which I still remember reading when it first came out and how the final mission of the book completely gripped me back then).
The book starts in 2005 in Africa, then jumps to Los Angeles in 2008 and Mexico in 2016 before the story picks up in Russia and Central Asia (of the Soviet Union) in 2020. It is an interesting book in how the story does move fairly fast, for the most part. It does lag in some parts, and it has some "hard moments" in it . There are some moments, though, where the author just shines in his writing; these are mostly moments in battle, and the author does a crazy job of getting the reader "into those moments" and making the reader feel the intensity, the emotions, and the whoosh of energy afterwards. He does a nice job of explaining "technobabble" (be it military, scientific, or "specialized civilian") in ways that are easy to understand and that do not ruin the flow of the book. The character development is well done; I still found myself caring about many of the various characters in the book and getting various emotional responses generated at moments in the story .
The book is an interesting set of contrasts, if you will. It feels "prescient" in many ways, but it's really not. It has numerous mistakes in it, looking back at it in comparison to the events of the last 30 years.
There were some quotes/lines in the book that stood out to me.
Lieutenant, it would be a wonderful thing if military service consisted of nothing but doing the right thing when the choices are easy, of kicking the **** out of some evil foreign ************ with horns and tails, then coming home to a big parade. Unfortunately, it also consists of trying to figure out what the **** the right thing can possibly be when the orders are unclear, the mission stinks, and everybody's in a hopeless muddle. A soldier's duty . . . is to do an honest days work in dishonest times . . . and to make the best out of the worst ******* mess imaginable. It means . . . believing in your heart that some things are more important than your personal devils . . . or even your personal beliefs. It means the willingness to give up . . . everything. And sometimes it just means lacing up your boots one more time when the whole world's going to **** (43).
Greatness. Power. Was it too easy to confuse the two concepts? And what was greatness without honor? The greatness of a barbarian. . . . The Japanese people, humiliated by the kindness of their enemies, had had no choice but to humiliate those enemies in return (163).
This one made me laugh: No place on earth was lonelier or vaster than Nebraska on an October night (212). I would beg to differ on that one, hahahah!
If the Americans were this good at so trivial an endeavor as running a restaurant . . . you had to wonder whether they might not be considerably better at military art than his (Russian) superiors were willing to credit (324).
No Magdalene had ever felt so deep and genuine a contrition (330). This stood out to me because the author has his Biblical characters mixed up; Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute but is often confused with another Mary mentioned in the Gospels who was a prostitute. Poor form on his part for not getting that right.
Overall, I would probably rate this a solid 3-stars. There were parts that were rather well written. There were parts that were not. I enjoyed the story, and even though I have read it . . . four times, now, the author's writing still manages to generate tension and suspense at "key moments" in the book. All the same, it was "fun" (on some levels) to revisit this book (which I still remember reading when it first came out and how the final mission of the book completely gripped me back then).
April 24, 2023
Nothing like a late 80s / early 90s "techno-thriller" full of Islamophobia, misogyny, Japanophobia, and American exceptionalism...ugh...
So, I remember reading this book way back in those halcyon days of, I don't know, maybe 1994? ...it was on my father's bookshelf and the whole "it's in the future world of 2020" appealed to me. Of course, I'm reading it now in the near-dystopian world of 2023, and it's just sort of silly. The fear of Japan was palpable in those days, which is funny considering how much of a non-entity they sort of became after the economic collapse of the late 90s. It seemed like all the writers back then, Clancy, Crichton, Peters here, etc., were all writing about the up-coming 21st Century with a triumphant Japan lording over the remains of the American "Empire." The Soviet Union is still alive and kicking - albeit lethargically - here, and is the subject of an invasion by the various peoples of Central Asia, using Japanese equipment, and the Americans, coming to the rescue.
It's been a tumultuous couple of decades, however; as the world has been in the grips of a pandemic since about 2005, which the Americans brought back from an intervention in sub-Saharan Africa in an attempt to stop South African expansion - using Japanese equipment. Of course, an embarrassing loss, plus the aforementioned plague, causes America to pull back, go all isolationist, and cut military spending, which allows the Japanese to run roughshod across the planet. Eventually, told in snippets near the beginning of the novel, the Americans claw their way back, with intervention after intervention in Central and South America to chase the Japanese out, to eventually sending a air cavalry unit with new, super high-tech machines that resemble the V-22 Osprey, but with rail guns, to bail out the Russians. Not to mention the fact that nuclear weapons have finally been eliminated because at some point in the 2010s or early 2000s, a united Middle East nuked Israel into oblivion, and now there's a sort of New Israel forming in the American West, as we've welcomed the refugees with open arms.
As a teenager, I remember finding this a very interesting scenario, and the story stuck with me for a long-time, as I remembered elements of it's plot throughout my life and was always on the lookout for this novel at used book sales. Having read it now...yikes! The two female characters are both weak and fragile, and nothing without a man in their life. One of which is punished to a loveless life of settling down with a womanizing asshole, as the main character was her lover and he dies (spoilers). The other, of course, is a Russian quasi-prostitute who is saved by a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, American hero, but only after being brutally interrogated by the KGB for fraternizing with an "American Spy" - not to mention that she's had a few rough abortions due to her prostituting.
Oh, and everyone is a "spineless coward" unwilling to see anything through, except, of course, for our gung-ho, guts and glory, horseback riding, scarred face, chaste, grizzled, gritty, American hero main character - the only one with the fortitude to get the job done. And by job, I mean, completely gutting the entire Japanese military with the stroke of a computer key, thus regaining American predominance in the world - since after one small setback, the entire Central Asian alliance falls apart to infighting and fresh rounds of civil wars. Did I forget to mention the South African mercenaries that the Japanese keep by their sides?
It did not need to be 600 pages long...and I do mean long. The main action doesn't even happen until well after page 300. And, aside from the first 80 pages, the rest of the novel takes place over a period of four days. There's also an afterward where the author warns us about the dangers of cutting military spending, how Russia is ultimately a hopeless quagmire, how Islam is a religion going nowhere, how Japan has never really truly stopped fighting us since WW2, and how American was, is, and always will be the good guy.
I'm sad that I was so nostalgic for this book.
So, I remember reading this book way back in those halcyon days of, I don't know, maybe 1994? ...it was on my father's bookshelf and the whole "it's in the future world of 2020" appealed to me. Of course, I'm reading it now in the near-dystopian world of 2023, and it's just sort of silly. The fear of Japan was palpable in those days, which is funny considering how much of a non-entity they sort of became after the economic collapse of the late 90s. It seemed like all the writers back then, Clancy, Crichton, Peters here, etc., were all writing about the up-coming 21st Century with a triumphant Japan lording over the remains of the American "Empire." The Soviet Union is still alive and kicking - albeit lethargically - here, and is the subject of an invasion by the various peoples of Central Asia, using Japanese equipment, and the Americans, coming to the rescue.
It's been a tumultuous couple of decades, however; as the world has been in the grips of a pandemic since about 2005, which the Americans brought back from an intervention in sub-Saharan Africa in an attempt to stop South African expansion - using Japanese equipment. Of course, an embarrassing loss, plus the aforementioned plague, causes America to pull back, go all isolationist, and cut military spending, which allows the Japanese to run roughshod across the planet. Eventually, told in snippets near the beginning of the novel, the Americans claw their way back, with intervention after intervention in Central and South America to chase the Japanese out, to eventually sending a air cavalry unit with new, super high-tech machines that resemble the V-22 Osprey, but with rail guns, to bail out the Russians. Not to mention the fact that nuclear weapons have finally been eliminated because at some point in the 2010s or early 2000s, a united Middle East nuked Israel into oblivion, and now there's a sort of New Israel forming in the American West, as we've welcomed the refugees with open arms.
As a teenager, I remember finding this a very interesting scenario, and the story stuck with me for a long-time, as I remembered elements of it's plot throughout my life and was always on the lookout for this novel at used book sales. Having read it now...yikes! The two female characters are both weak and fragile, and nothing without a man in their life. One of which is punished to a loveless life of settling down with a womanizing asshole, as the main character was her lover and he dies (spoilers). The other, of course, is a Russian quasi-prostitute who is saved by a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, American hero, but only after being brutally interrogated by the KGB for fraternizing with an "American Spy" - not to mention that she's had a few rough abortions due to her prostituting.
Oh, and everyone is a "spineless coward" unwilling to see anything through, except, of course, for our gung-ho, guts and glory, horseback riding, scarred face, chaste, grizzled, gritty, American hero main character - the only one with the fortitude to get the job done. And by job, I mean, completely gutting the entire Japanese military with the stroke of a computer key, thus regaining American predominance in the world - since after one small setback, the entire Central Asian alliance falls apart to infighting and fresh rounds of civil wars. Did I forget to mention the South African mercenaries that the Japanese keep by their sides?
It did not need to be 600 pages long...and I do mean long. The main action doesn't even happen until well after page 300. And, aside from the first 80 pages, the rest of the novel takes place over a period of four days. There's also an afterward where the author warns us about the dangers of cutting military spending, how Russia is ultimately a hopeless quagmire, how Islam is a religion going nowhere, how Japan has never really truly stopped fighting us since WW2, and how American was, is, and always will be the good guy.
I'm sad that I was so nostalgic for this book.
April 26, 2008
So, I read this back sometime in the mid-1990s, in 1994 I think. I had picked up a tattered mass-market paperback copy at a yard sale or Salvation Army, and I really loved it. As bad thriller books go, this one was well-done. Oh, it was a bit anachronistic - set in 2020 but written in 1991, it made reference to Desert Shield but not Desert Storm, and the Soviet Union plays a major role in 2020. Anyway, I loved this book, but my copy literally fell apart, pages scattering in the wind. I tried to get a new copy, but it was out of print. I found a copy at Savers yesterday (4/25/08) for less than $3. Hardcover. So I'm happy.
May 7, 2008
Very similar to a Dale Brown novel but with slightly more deference for reality, where a souped up aircraft flies behind enemy lines and manages to take out half of the opposing force's military. If I remember correctly this one is a stealth helicopter with a railgun. And to back it up there's an appearance of 'White Star', a high altitude many billion dollar jet that delivers EMP pulses.
(spoiler)
There's a great scene at the end where one of the U.S. soldiers stays behind in an enemy control complex so he can continue to press the delete key to remotely disable Japanese made tanks and armored vehicles one at a time.
Read
January 18, 2013I personally found this book to be very boring and uninteresting. When I read the back flap and the first couple chapters and it seemed to be pretty good and very descriptive. But after awhile the story line got stale and very hard to comprehend. Like one character that was described in a chapter was completely forgotten and never mentioned for another seven or eight chapters. Finally, I dropped the book out of shear boredom. As for a recommendation for this book, I would not recommend this book to people because it was incredibly hard to follow.
June 17, 2014
After re-reading this novel some 20 years later, Peters vision of today's world both hits and misses. Fortunately, we have not yet developed (I hope) nor deployed "The Scramblers" for, as Peters dramatized in The War in 2020, it is one of the most terrifying weapons ever conceived! At the first reading (1992?), I remember Peters as a very forward thinking, almost prescient novelist and commentator (through his novels). Re-reading his afterword to the novel, it is easy to see the strains of his thinking that came into full bloom after the tragedy of 11 Sept 2001.
August 5, 2019
Have you ever read a book and just step back and think "What was that?" This was a hybrid between a military fiction and science fiction. The book is 30 years old and, you could tell. Some of the throw away pieces Peters got correct (he was off about 4 years on the first African American president, but he had Obama down to a tee) while the remaining existance of the Soviet Union was pretty puzzling.
I'm giving it a solid three stars because it wasn't terrible -- it just was two genres that I don't read.
I'm giving it a solid three stars because it wasn't terrible -- it just was two genres that I don't read.
October 4, 2012
Several lessons are present in this fictional account of a ultra-technological war. Peter's hits the lesson that war is about people and the decisions they make no matter how smart computers become. He sets his account in a ethno-cultural war where hatred fuels atrocity. It sounds akin to Huntington's Clash. On the down side, the characters have a stereotypical biases and the story is a little weak.
September 8, 2012
I'm torn. It's easy to see the flaws in this book with historical hindsight, but other than some really unlikely plot premise issues and some fails at character development, it's really pretty good. The story moves along nicely and engages you into feeling like you need to know how things work out for the characters.
December 3, 2018
A bit overly macho and misogynistic but that is the genre. Other than that I really liked the characters and the story. Even though the book was written in the 90's I still can't understand why the author would think that Japan would partner with radical muslim countries. And he was really off base with his predictions of China.
October 25, 2019
I really, reeeeaally like this book. But i had to give it 3 stars. Let's get started!
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NEGATIVES
If you hate stereotypes, you may wanna pass. This book has pleeeenty
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Not kich war, besides the Arabs invading soviet countries, a police action in africa, and some fighting in Mexico. The back of the book made it sound that we would have more war. I'm not mad, just felt misled.
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My favorite character was the Russian armored officer, but he gets the worst fucking ending. No, I'm not mad that he died, but he says those are my men at the door, and the political officer says he is to be killed. Alright, cool, im excited to see where this goes. NOPE. Never even brought up again...
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the 2 women characters are very shallow and boring, Valya is much better out of the two atleast. But what's her name is Washington was just annoying to me. I had to force myself through her scenes. We get it, you don't think you deserve happiness so you settle with being used. Very interesting...
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Yeah, Ralph Peters was an officer, but the fact that there are Barely any enlisted characters is fucking dumb. Sir, you know the Army is more than officers and warrant officers right? Why couldn't we replace atleast one character with an enlisted guys view? That would've painted a nice picture what kind of kit they have, what weapons they use, and how they feel about being where they are. Do they srill use m16s? Saws? M60s? He never even daid what the foot soldiers primary wepon is. Wait a second, he does have some dialogue from NCOs, but according to Peters, that's all that makes up this future Army. Sunuvabitch officers, sunuvabitch NCOs, and sunuvabitch warrant officers.
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I fail to understand how all these Arab countries settled their differences and ended up working together, that practically broke my immersion.
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POSITIVES
He does really well with painting a clear picture about the world. We get to see how much the world has changed, starting from the police action in Africa, to Russia. You aren't going to be lost atleast!
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Lots of diverse and human characters. Most of the time when a character refers to another perosn from another country, they sound so disgusted. Peters wasn't afraid to write offensive things in this book and i found it believable for the characters to refer to eachother in these ways.
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Action was sparse but very well written. I assume Peters wanted to make up for not doing much cool guy stuff like room clearing, and shooting bad guys, so he put The Colonel in these situations. Not bad, just funny.
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In the end, even though it had glaring issues, i still love this book, and you should check it out!
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NEGATIVES
If you hate stereotypes, you may wanna pass. This book has pleeeenty
-
Not kich war, besides the Arabs invading soviet countries, a police action in africa, and some fighting in Mexico. The back of the book made it sound that we would have more war. I'm not mad, just felt misled.
-
My favorite character was the Russian armored officer, but he gets the worst fucking ending. No, I'm not mad that he died, but he says those are my men at the door, and the political officer says he is to be killed. Alright, cool, im excited to see where this goes. NOPE. Never even brought up again...
-
the 2 women characters are very shallow and boring, Valya is much better out of the two atleast. But what's her name is Washington was just annoying to me. I had to force myself through her scenes. We get it, you don't think you deserve happiness so you settle with being used. Very interesting...
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Yeah, Ralph Peters was an officer, but the fact that there are Barely any enlisted characters is fucking dumb. Sir, you know the Army is more than officers and warrant officers right? Why couldn't we replace atleast one character with an enlisted guys view? That would've painted a nice picture what kind of kit they have, what weapons they use, and how they feel about being where they are. Do they srill use m16s? Saws? M60s? He never even daid what the foot soldiers primary wepon is. Wait a second, he does have some dialogue from NCOs, but according to Peters, that's all that makes up this future Army. Sunuvabitch officers, sunuvabitch NCOs, and sunuvabitch warrant officers.
-
I fail to understand how all these Arab countries settled their differences and ended up working together, that practically broke my immersion.
-
POSITIVES
He does really well with painting a clear picture about the world. We get to see how much the world has changed, starting from the police action in Africa, to Russia. You aren't going to be lost atleast!
-
Lots of diverse and human characters. Most of the time when a character refers to another perosn from another country, they sound so disgusted. Peters wasn't afraid to write offensive things in this book and i found it believable for the characters to refer to eachother in these ways.
-
Action was sparse but very well written. I assume Peters wanted to make up for not doing much cool guy stuff like room clearing, and shooting bad guys, so he put The Colonel in these situations. Not bad, just funny.
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In the end, even though it had glaring issues, i still love this book, and you should check it out!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 11, 2020
Any novel that has a specific year in its title always catches my eye. If you have lived that year, I’m sure you would try to see if any of the events in that novel occurred in real life.
What better way to write a novel than having the first-hand experiences to write the story with a fictional twist? As a retired U.S. Army lieutenant, Ralph Peters came up with The War in 2020.
From what I can see of this story is the United States and the Soviet Union are at war with the Japanese, the African continent and the Islamic States. This started when Japan took over the control for global trade and managed to disallow the United States from its global power. Good.
But in the end, even though the Soviet Union turned on the United States, the U.S. military led by the protagonist Captain George Taylor succeeded in defeating the Japanese forces, and regained control of the United States again. Oh well.
Did I mention that there was a pandemic happening in this novel? In late 2019, we discovered a virus that caused a global pandemic. Though it doesn’t make your face disoriented like in the novel, it did kill millions already.
Now you see why novel titles that have specific years catch my eye?
What better way to write a novel than having the first-hand experiences to write the story with a fictional twist? As a retired U.S. Army lieutenant, Ralph Peters came up with The War in 2020.
From what I can see of this story is the United States and the Soviet Union are at war with the Japanese, the African continent and the Islamic States. This started when Japan took over the control for global trade and managed to disallow the United States from its global power. Good.
But in the end, even though the Soviet Union turned on the United States, the U.S. military led by the protagonist Captain George Taylor succeeded in defeating the Japanese forces, and regained control of the United States again. Oh well.
Did I mention that there was a pandemic happening in this novel? In late 2019, we discovered a virus that caused a global pandemic. Though it doesn’t make your face disoriented like in the novel, it did kill millions already.
Now you see why novel titles that have specific years catch my eye?
May 23, 2021
The War in 2020 is a slow book. I'm usually a relatively impatient reader however this book showed me the beauty in taking your time. Peters crafts tension that painstakingly increases throughout the 400 pages or so until it finally finally resolves itself with much satisfaction. The failures of the United States military and the challenges facing the protagonists are engaging and gripping. The author really draws you in. Peters is also an incredibly descriptive writer, painting a picture with his words. I often felt I was watching the scenes play out in front of me. It's also uncanny reading this book in 2021, seeing what Peters got right and wrong about technology and its advancement 30 years later.
Overall, thoroughly enjoyed it.
Overall, thoroughly enjoyed it.
October 20, 2019
Lumbering slog about some plague in Africa, then in California, then onto Mexico. The story is about Japan creating quality weapons so the United States has to assist a U.S.S.r. that did not actually collapse as this was written just before the fall. Swearing, adult content. I'l never get the hours I read this back, shame on me!
May 1, 2020
Great story. Timely to today’s pandemic. But too detailed and flipping from Rome side to the other. Though, it is necessary and insightful to show both sides, it can have a tendency to leave the reader a bit confused as to whom is fighting whom.
December 27, 2023
Even better than Red Army. The premise is obviously crazy but the characters and plot feel great. Funny little parallels to our timeline in some spots as well. What was once a cautionary tale is a really interesting look at what could have been.
January 3, 2019
I thought it was a very interesting book
April 27, 2019
Hard to put done. Prophetic!!
December 7, 2019
Excellent read. Good combat scenes and a believable scenario.
January 3, 2022
One of the books on my frequent re-read list
Features tech that is believable and could be around corner
Features tech that is believable and could be around corner
February 8, 2023
Well written and imaginative novel. Although the characters do follow American fiction cliques, it is a enjoyable novel.
June 13, 2025
Mr Peters' books make you think about reality around us. I like that. Enough said.
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