Over the past twenty years or so Harry Turtledove has established himself as a major creator of alternate history novels. Joe Steele is his latest: a tale of politicians dating from 1930’s America until the 1950’s.
The titular character, Joe Steele, is an imagined one for the novel, although being born as Joseph Dzugashvili to new immigrants from Russia, Steele has (no doubt deliberate) links to our own real-world Joseph Stalin. The book begins as Steele is Franklin D. Roosevelt’s main rival for the 1932 Democratic Presidential nomination.
Of course, this being a Harry Turtledove novel, it’s not long before things diverge from what really happened. The big ‘what-if?’ this time around is “What would happen to America if FDR didn’t get to be President and a Stalin-esque leader got there in his place?” Whereas in our history Roosevelt defeats Herbert Hoover and becomes President in 1932, to die in 1945, here he dies in 1932 (in rather mysterious circumstances). As a result, man-of-the-people Joe Steele captures the 1932 Democratic presidential nomination and goes on to defeat Hoover to become President. Whereas Roosevelt led the USA through the Great Depression and into the Second World War, Steele’s leadership style is rather different – some would say Stalinesque – and brings Communist-style totalitarianism to the USA.
As is fairly typical in Turtledove novels, the world spanning events are shown to us through the viewpoints of a couple of key characters. In Joe Steele the plot is mainly told through the lives of two brothers, both of whom are reporters but as the book progresses follow different paths. Mike Sullivan writes for the New York Times, whilst Charlie Sullivan is in Washington. Both follow the career of Joe Steele, but whereas Charlie finds himself working with the Steele administration, Mike is a voice against the President.
The book pretty much shows the rise and rise of this working class President. With the help of his minders, Stas Mikoian, Lazar Kagan and Vince Scriabin (nicknamed The Hammer), as well as J. Edgar Hoover, who Steele makes the head of the GBI (Government Bureau of Investigation), Joe sets about consolidating his position and getting America back on its feet after the Great Depression. He instigates a series of Four Year Plans, ends unemployment, nationalises the banks and purges the capitalists and members of the Supreme Court that dare to stand in his way. “He’s putting the people back to work, and he’s putting the rich bastards in their place. You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs.” we are told at one point.
Whilst Europe sees the rise of Adolf Hitler, and Leon Trotsky controls the Soviet Union, Steele, said at one point to be “the American Trotsky”, tightens his grip on the American homeland by introducing labour camps for his opponents (thus echoing Siberian gulags.) Unsurprisingly, Mike is arrested as ‘a wrecker’, sentenced for writing articles against the President that are not in the nation’s best interests and is exiled to Montana to do hard labour for at least five years and up to ten. Despite his efforts, Charlie cannot do anything to help. Thinking that he could do more to reduce the issues by working within rather than outside the government, Charlie actually ends up working for Steele as a Presidential scriptwriter at a time when things begin to get hectic for Steele and the US government.
When World War II begins in Europe, some parts of our plot are recognisable whilst others are subtly different. As in our history, Steele initially refuses to join the conflict, though he does finance Britain against the Nazi oppressors. Japan attacks the United States in 1941, and Steele then takes his country to war against the Axis powers, funding Russia, a country first seen as a hated enemy by Steele. Similar to our timeline, the D-Day invasion at Normandy takes place in 1944 when, like Roosevelt in our time, Steele fears the possibility of the USSR, now run by Trotsky, becoming dominant in Europe if the Western powers fail to take a stand.
In 1945 Nazi Germany is defeated, and focus then turns to the Pacific War, which, unlike ours, proceeds until December, 1945. The United States and the USSR jointly invade and defeat Japan, which is then divided into North and South Japan with a demilitarisation zone (echoing North and South Korea in our history here.)
The ending of the Second World War and the defeat of Nazi Germany means that we have the beginnings of the Atomic Age. Steele learns of Germany’s aborted atomic bomb project, and seeing this as a useful weapon for the US to have, attempts to initiate an American programme. On hearing of Einstein’s reluctance to give the President the means of creating an atom bomb, fearing for world safety, Steele’s response is swift and immediate – Einstein is killed for withholding information that could’ve shortened the war and given America a global advantage. A Navy Captain named Rickover is given the task to build an American bomb, whilst in the meantime, the USSR also begins its own atom bomb project with the aid of other captured scientists.
As the world continues to readjust after the Second World War, North Japan attacks South Japan which leads to both the US and the USSR dropping atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Sendai and Nagano, setting the stage for a Cold War in the 1950s, with Chiang’s Nationalists of China gaining support from Steele against Mao Tse Tung’s Red Army.
The story ends with Steele in his sixth term of office, nearly seventy. The ending is rather shocking and yet somewhat appropriate.
One of the things I enjoy most about a Turtledove novel is his ability to take an idea, and then run with it to see where it goes. As such, I suspect that the plot summary above will either persuade you to want to read the novel or not. If such events leave you cold, then this book may not be the one for you. It may also be an issue that running with such ideas means that the book takes time to build, although its progress towards the end is relentless. But if you love alternate histories, you will want to see how Harry develops his subtly different version of history into a logical plot.
Other than that, the reader pretty much knows what they’re going to get here and gets it. If you’ve tried Harry before, his style here is no different, being the usual reportage tone delivered through characters that we soon learn to identify. The places mentioned are also part of the travelogue – from the USA to Europe, to Russia and then Japan – the reader gets a real idea of what impact Steele has upon the world. Some may find that in places there is a little too much detail – if you’re not a fan of political stories or politics in general then there’s a lot here not-to-like. There’s a lot of “tell, don’t show” which admittedly may not be for everyone, and in places does lead to the same point being made a few chapters apart, acting as some kind of unnecessary recap.
The characterisation is also typical Turtledove – there’s not too much depth here, as it’s the widescreen breadth you’re after. A whole host of people – some real, others fictional – pop up in varying amounts to propel the plot from one incident to another. It helps if you can recognise aspects of the historical events, but it’s not essential.
What is as good, as ever, is the way that Harry is able to project a realistic feel for the time the book is set in. This is done by combining the fictional elements with our reality most convincingly. Even when different to our own, the events that happen in the book are well explained and therefore logical in their outcome.
Joe Steele is a large book, and it is therefore a credit to Harry that, on finishing it, I wanted to see where things go next as we seem to enter a Cold War scenario. I’m not entirely sure that this one will make many new converts, but if you like playing with ‘what-if’s’ in your fiction, then Joe Steele offers you a lot to think about. In the end, I loved it.
Joe Steele by Harry Turtledove
Published by Roc/NAL, April 2015 (Review copy received)
448 pages
ISBN: 978-0451472182
Mark Yon, February 2015.
“The titular character, Joe Steele, is an imagined one for the novel, although being born as Joseph Dzugashvili to new immigrants from Russia, Steele has (no doubt deliberate) links to our own real-world Joseph Stalin.”
On that point, I beg to differ.
The book’s first page describes Joe Steele as in his early fifties, about three inches shorter than 5’8″, with gray hair and bushy mustache, yellow-brown eyes and bad skin. There would be no point in Turtledove making him so pointedly identical to the real Stalin if he were only creating an “imagined” character with “links” to Stalin.
Also, “Stalin” was the last of a series of revolutionary pseudonyms he used. It was based on the Russian word сталь, or “stal”, meaning steel. “Stalin” was supposed to imply “man of steel.”
Turtledove’s Joe Steele is Joseph Stalin transplanted to America, plain and simple. Same birth name, age, height, hair, eyes, skin, personality and brutality. Same man.