The Guns of the South Audiobook By Harry Turtledove cover art

The Guns of the South

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The Guns of the South

By: Harry Turtledove
Narrated by: Paul Costanzo
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About this listen

January 1864: General Robert E. Lee faces defeat. The Army of Northern Virginia is ragged and ill-equipped. Gettysburg has broken the back of the Confederacy and decimated its manpower. Then, Andries Rhoodie, a strange man with an unplaceable accent, approaches Lee with an extraordinary offer. Rhoodie demonstrates an amazing rifle: its rate of fire is incredible, its lethal efficiency breathtaking - and Rhoodie guarantees unlimited quantities to the Confederates. The name of the weapon is the AK-47.

©1992 Harry Turtledove (P)2016 Tantor
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Critic reviews

"An exceptionally riveting and innovative narrative that successfully straddles the gulf between fact and fantasy." ( Booklist)

What listeners say about The Guns of the South

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Loved the book but...

This has been a favourite of mine since I bought my first copy in 1992. I love the storyline and how the author works out the plot lines. I also love how Lee deals with the oddity of time travel with the greatest of ease. It might've been interesting to see how he would've marveled at the modern world had he had the chance to see it.

I did NOT care much for the performance. While he did make effort to have the characters speak with the proper enthusiasm, he mispronounced simple words, all the characters sounded the same, and the reading of the story outside of the characters speaking was very dull and monotonous. Many times during long spells of just story, I found myself nodding off. I would not recommend this for listening to while driving.
I WOULD listen to it again, as it's a favourite of mine but please let me know if you ever get someone who knows how to read and make a book come alive for the listener to perform this title.

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Absolutely Amazing

This book is just absolutely amazing you grow attached to characters and learn to hate others. The narrator did amazing aswell

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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The Gun of The South...what if the South had AK47s

Imagine for a moment how different our Civil War might have ended IF the South had been given AK47s.. Visitors from the future approach Robert E Lee and introduce his army to rapid fire automatic weapons. And the rest is an alternative history!

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Fantastic!

I had just finished the Southern Victory series and needed some more alternative history. This book is fantastic, I’m glad it’s one novel and sad in a way as well. This book leaves you wanting more, I want to know what happens to Lee and the CSA!

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Love the story, but....

The narrator's lack of diversified character voicing left me confused as to whom was speaking many times throughout the book. His "southern" voice sounded pretty much the same for all southern characters, as did his "northern" voice. The South Africans sounded like his "Northerners" for the first half of the book, then they sounded like watered-down Australians the second half. They never sounded remotely South African. All in all, I enjoyed reading the book far more than I did listening to it in audio-book format. If the narrator had developed some small measure of uniqueness in his characters, it would have been so much more enjoyable.

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Great stpry

great book sorta wish there where more in the time line. good storyline and characters

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When two worlds collide

Very well done take on what would happen if modern technology were introduced to one side of civil war. Not just exploring how it would materially affect the outcome, but the unforeseen costs of accepting this "gift". Thoughtful look at the motives of the historical figures of the civil war. This work of fiction helped me to better understand the background of the war and the personalities involved. Well done!

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If you love History and Fiction...A MUST!

Where does The Guns of the South rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Ok with more than a thousand books this could be a difficult answer, but I will revisit this book for years to come.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Lee. We are tempted to judge people not by the content of their character but by their side of history. The author is insightful with the Lee character.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

What if?

Any additional comments?

A fun and thought provoking read.

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good read

probably his best effort, of all the Turtledove books I've read, this is my favourite

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Better then expected definitely credit worthy

I didn’t have very high expectations for this book I just figured I would return it after a couple of chapters. But I’m glad I gave it a chance. I binged it over a couple days and I’m a lot disappointed it’s over. Hopefully the author uses this universe the explore more storylines

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