"Axis of Time" Series. Anyone read this?

I just got the first book "Weapons of Choice" and I have to say this is some really good reading. It's a sci-fi, alternate history series. The year is 2021 and the war on terror continues on. A naval battle group gets caught in a freak wormhole caused by a military experiment and ends up being transported back in time to 1942 just before the battle of Midway. The problem is they end up destroying most of the armada that was to achieve victory there before the situation is cleared up. The military and technical aspects of it are wonderfully rendered by author John Birmingham but the real interesting part is the extreme culture shock that both sides encounter. The 1942 Navy has never seen a black colonel in any branch of the military or a woman commander of a British Navy vessel. Not to mention helicopters, laser guided weapons or nukes. The Allies initial glee at the news that they had won the war is tempered by the dreadful realization that history as it was is now altered and anything can happen. Particularly when one of the ships of the future armada ends up in the hands of Admiral Yamamoto and the Japanese.

It's all very good but the best stuff is the culture shock. Himmler's reaction when he's told of a future that does not include the Reich and his horror when he hears of the Jewish state of Israel. The women of the future who will not put up with the sexual harassment that was accepted behavior in the 1940's and kick ass on some very startled sailors. The black Marine and his buddy who beat the piss out of an entire bar for making racist statements by using superior martial art combat techniques never considered in the WWII era army. It's highly entertaining.

I recommend this to anyone into military fiction, science fiction or alternate history.


http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=ik3GPnxC8F&isbn=0345457129&itm

I'm bookmarking this thread for now and will check my local bookstores. I love alternate histories.

The plot of the book sounds a lot like the movie, "The Final Countdown."

And a lot more in depth. I now have the second book "Designated Targets" and it just gets better. The third and final installment should be out in November.

The sociocultural aspects of the books are what makes this series good. While people often say that people were a "product of their time," it's neat to see how people of the "Greatest Generation" might react to more modern attitudes that repudiate sexism, racism, and homophobia.

This is a tangential comment.

For anyone even vaguely curious about Admiral Yamamoto, I highly recommend the only biography of him I'm aware of. It's title is: "The Reluctant Admiral"

Here's a few of tidbits about him:

* He was an avid gambler and fairly succesful at it, too. He would have liked to retire, take his mistress to Monte Carlo, and live there and gamble happily in his retirement.

* He was often sent to international naval conferences before WWII. After one conference in London, there were people in the Japanese government who very much wanted him to stop by Berlin and meet Hitler. Yamamoto apparently didn't think much of him and pointedly avoided meeting him.

* The Japanese had enormous confidence in their navy. That confidence was based largely on its success in the Russo-Japanese War back in 1904. By the beginning of WWII, there was only ONE member of the Imperial Navy who had served during the Russo-Japanese War: Yamamoto. He had been a naval cadet back then and had had the first two fingers of his left hand blown off in an engagement in that war.