Get It Now The Indians Won Imagined By Martin Cruz Smith Available As Bound Copy

alternate history was very interesting, I actually wish it had happened this way, I found the writing style to be boring though, Too little character development. I wanted more personal stories intertwined within the narrative, Still not disappointed that I read it though, Ein sehr zahlenlastiger Bericht über einen Krieg und die Geschichte eines Staates, die so nie stattfanden, This was the first book by Cruz that I read, . what a gem. Yes, the Indians win a war against current day US Govt, So well done. A hidden gem of a story, I guess I have to be the naysayer on this book, A bit surprised at just how positive the average rating and review seems to be, Well, first off I will say one very positive thing this book got me back into reading fiction after a very long fallow period in which the only novels or stories I read were rereadings of old favorites I think when I read this/years ago it was the first time I actually finished a novel for the first time in at least a decade.
Had it been a great book, maybe it would have lead me to even more reading than I've done since, but that's a pointless mental exercise to imagine, I read it in the space ofdays, standing waiting in line for movies, and while I probably liked the movies I saw more than this book, it's a strong memory, and in a sense it was an enjoyable enough pageturner under the circumstances.


Unfortunately it wasn't that good, but fortunately it was very short, It's Martin Cruz Smith's first novel, and it wasn't terribly successful at the time it seems to be out of print now, and there are very few copies in my whole state library system.
This novel which Cruz himself admits was quickly written I'd call it "slapdash" and very imperfect in his intro to the paperback edition is about just what you'd expect it to be about: it's an alternate history story in which the Native Americans somehow beat back the advance of the American army after Custer's defeat in, and eventually establish an Indian Nation which bisects the USA.
Alas it's not very well realized at all and way, way too short for such a big subject, Themain plot, in which a charismatic and I'm guess madeup, I haven't bothered to look this stuff up and highly educated Indian leader brings the western tribes together to fight off the US troops isn't terrible though Smith's descriptions and characterizations are thin even by the standards of pulp fiction, but the modernday sequences where an Indian Nations representative is in talks in Washington to try to fend off potential nuclear war are really shoddy, and the fact that Smith somehow imagines WWI and II happening more or less the same way they did in our reality, barely mentions women or other races at all, and doesn't give more than the faintest notion of what relations between the two nations have been, let alone relations with Mexico, Canada or the rest of the Americas, really makes the book feel like it was thought up in an afternoon.
Still, this is an area in the alternate history subgenre that is surprisingly thin so if the

idea interests you it might be worth a casual look, It's also refueled my interest in this area so I may take a look at some of Harry Turtledoves massive AH oeuvre before long, three years later I haven't but I still consider them every time I walk down the scifi shelf area in the library, Another alternate history that says more about when it was written than the counterfactual point explored, Cruz postulates an alliance of almost all of the remaining tribes in the years after the American Civil War that, with European supplied weaponry, is able to defeat the US Army and carve out an independent nation.


And, of course, the Native Americans go from strength to strength, holding off the US and building a technologically advanced nation that remains completely true to their traditions.
The book splits the story between telling the history of how they built their nation with a "modern" i, e.s set situation between the US and the Native American Nation which could lead to the final war between the two,

An interesting read but unconvincing, again as is often the case in AH, the author has his chosen side win because everything falls their way, Admittedly, Smith does not make itbut pretty close, Further, I think Smith underestimates the vindictiveness of the American national character in believing that the US would let its losses go unavenged, The ability of the Native Americans to become an industrial power capable of equaling and often exceeding according to the book the US military while remaining entirely true to their ways and traditions strikes an unlikely note, as there were less than half a million Native Americans in, but necessary for Smith's story.
I really enjoyed this offbeat story of what might have happened if Crazy Horse had not been murdered,
The alternate history story is divided in two periods, the historical part and a modernday part in the new America, The action is alternated.
Crazy Horse went on to be a great general and managed to unite the Native American tribes against the invaders, Down in the southwest the Indians linked up with the Mormons in Utah and so a block of land was left in the centre of the continent with the new settlers remaining on the coasts.
How this is politically organised makes an interesting read and by the action story of the modern day we see the world that has resulted from this circumstance,
The modern section is the poorer but the characters are still all well written,
Cruz Smith is part Pueblo and makes the ideal author for such a story, Also read Stallion Gate. A great "What if" read, As a person with Native American roots, I found this really amazing, AKA sitelink Simon Quinn, sitelink Nick Carter, Martin Cruz Smith born Martin William Smith, American novelist, received his BA in Creative Writing from the University of Pennsylvania in, He worked as a journalist fromtobefore turning his hand to fiction, His first mystery sitelink Gypsy in Amberfeatures NY gypsy art dealer Roman Grey and was nominated for an Edgar Award, sitelink Nightwing was his breakthrough novel and was made into a movie, Smith is best known for his series of novels featuring Russian investigator Arkady Renko, sitelink Gorky Park, published in, was the first of these and was called thriller of thes by Time Magazine, It became a bestseller and won the Gold Dagger Award from the British Crime Writers Association, Renko has als AKA sitelink Simon Quinn, sitelink Nick Carter, Martin Cruz Smith born Martin William Smith, American novelist, received his BA in Creative Writing from the University of Pennsylvania in, He worked as a journalist fromtobefore turning his hand to fiction, His first mystery sitelink Gypsy in Amberfeatures NY gypsy art dealer Roman Grey and was nominated for an Edgar Award, sitelink Nightwing was his breakthrough novel and was made into a movie, Smith is best known for his series of novels featuring Russian investigator Arkady Renko, sitelink Gorky Park, published in, was the first of these and was called "thriller of the 's" by Time Magazine, It became a bestseller and won the Gold Dagger Award from the British Crime Writers' Association, Renko has also appeared in sitelink Polar Star, sitelink Red Square, sitelink Havana Bay, sitelink Wolves Eat Dogs, sitelink Stalin's Ghost, and sitelink Three Stations, In thes, Smith wrote sitelink The Inquisitor Series under the pseudonym sitelink Simon Quinn and penned two Slocum adult action westerns as sitelink Jake Logan, He also wrote the sitelink Nick Carter: Killmaster series under the alias sitelink Nick Carter with sitelink Mike Avallone and others, Martin Cruz Smith now lives in San Rafael, California with his wife and three children, sitelink.