#42. BRING THE JUBILEE By Ward Moore

Published : 1952
Pages : 194
Overall Mark : 7/10

Hodge Backmaker lives in twentieth century New York, a city of cobblestones, gas lamps and ten-storey skyscrapers. In his world, the Confederate South won its independence in the Civil War and North America is divided, with slavery and serfdom still facts of life in the Confederacy and New York a provincial backwater. Bring The Jubilee stands alongside Pavane as science fiction's finest exploration of alternative history.

WARD MOORE (1903-1978)
Moore wrote a number of novels, of which only four are science fiction. The others, which are contemporary satires or dystopias, are largely forgotten, but Bring The Jubilee has been in print since its first publication in 1953, and has always been recognized as one of the finest novels of its kind. The film Panic In The Year Zero is based on two of his stories.

VERDICT
In terms of alternate history novels, this isn't a bad concept - a world in which the South won the American War of Independence - but it's just too short to encapsulate the entire notion of this world in which slavery is rife and imperialism is commonplace. Plus the copout of writing it as an incomplete diary allows the author to stop wherever he pleases, leaving the reader potentially dissatisfied.