1920: America's Great War

By: Robert Conroy

Narrated by: L. J. Ganser

Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

By the author of breakout World War II era alternate histories Himmler's War and Rising Sun, a compelling alternate-history thriller. After winning World War I, Germany invades America in 1920, marching through California and Texas as a desperate nation resists.

Consider this other 1920: Imperial Germany has become the most powerful nation in the world. In 1914, she crushed England, France, and Russia in a war that was short but entirely devastating. By 1920, Kaiser Wilhelm II is looking for new lands to devour. The United States is fast becoming an economic super-power and the only nation that can conceivably threaten Germany. The U.S. is militarily inept, however, and is led by a sick and delusional president who wants to avoid war at any price. Thus, Germany is able to ship a huge army to Mexico to support a puppet government. Her real goal: the invasion and permanent conquest of California and Texas.

America desperately resists the mightiest and most brutal army in the world, in a battle fought on land, at sea, and in the air as enemy armies savagely march up on California and move north towards a second Battle of the Alamo. Only the indomitable spirit of freedom can answer the Kaiser's challenge.

©2013 Robert Conroy (P)2013 Recorded Books

Glad It Didn`t happen

Where does 1920: America's Great War rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Most of the books I have downloaded are good and some are very good. This one rates with the good. Good story, good characters and a good performance. The author does his research. His insights into the major players of the time are interesting and probably right on.

Not bad, but missed it's full potential.

What did you like best about 1920: America's Great War? What did you like least?

Best: the author handles geopolitics well and has a good sense of humor. I found myself laughing several times. He also paints a good battlefield picture, which not all alt-historians do, and has a good grasp of military hardware - especially naval.

Least: I think the story was a little aborted and could have greatly benefited from another book or two. I know other reviewers have appreciated the fact that the author is able to wrap up the plot in one book, but I feel that a few subplots are promised early on and never delivered. I also found it unlikely that the events of the book could be resolved as abruptly as they did.

My other big complaint is the handling of the characters. There's far too much name dropping regarding real historical people and it begins to break the suspension of disbelief. The other problem is that there are far too many POV characters for the length. There's not enough development for most of them, so it's hard to care what happens to them.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Another book or two to slow down the pace a little, develop the characters, and resolve the "third act problems" (to borrow a phrase)

That failing, reduce the cast and pace it similarly to "How Few Remain"

What about L. J. Ganser’s performance did you like?

He's clear and enunciates. He also obeys punctuation, which not all performers do.

I struck a half a star for his female voices. The same characters had slightly different voices at different times, and there was overlap between two of the main female characters which was confusing. I struck the other half for his rendition of Patton. He gave the man a deep gravelly voice where it's well documented that Patton's voice was rather high. I don't know if it was a lack of homework, or artistic license, but I would have preferred more accuracy.

Was 1920: America's Great War worth the listening time?

If you are a fan of the genre, yes. Otherwise, probably not

Any additional comments?

I wish I could have had Mr. Conroy write "The War that Came Early" which was too drawn out, and Dr. Turtledove write this story which could have used more material.

Good story in a single shot.

Overall I really enjoyed this story. It was an interesting concept loosely grounded in historical facts and entertaining to listen to. These days, I appreciate authors that can wrap up the story in one book. Sometimes I don't want to start the investment in a long series of books that inevitably end on cliff hanger after cliff hanger. Some people might see the plot as "formulaic" but its that straight foreword manner that made it an enjoyable listen. I only have one criticism; the author had a bad habit of cramming every historical figure he possibly could into the story. I understand that famous figures in military history were young "up and comers" in 1920 and some would conceivably play a role in these events. My issue is the steady stream of notable people that made cameo appearances through out the book in miner or insignificant roles just to add them in. Its starts out as a fun novelty and then becomes a little burdensome as it happens more and more. Its totally worth a credit if you're looking for a fun, straight forward listen.

Great Read/ Listen

I’ve listened to and read several of Robert Conroy’s books. This ranks as one of his best.

Eh… not bad but a bit cringey

This book has the vibe of someone’s grandpa who writes and self publishes books for fun after watching the History Channel non-stop. The concept is good and rooted in some solid plot lines but there are some seriously cringey moments that would’ve been cut if anyone had actually edited it.

One second, our hero is jollying around and flirting and the next moment, a young women is abused, then back to flirting with all within the same page. And it seems to be a repeating theme (three such abuses have happened to three different women and I’m only about four hours in) The overall tone deafness is mind boggling. Who wants to hear about this over and over again? We get it. The bad guys are bad. Move on.

Adding in historical figures is ok, but putting them both together and injecting them directly into the plot is again, eye rolling and cringey for different reasons. Would’ve been better to give them a smaller role since people already know them and let the audience fill in the gaps.

I hope I can finish this but I don’t know how many more tone deaf and structurally irrelevant gang r@pe’s I can stomach.

A well done alternate history.

The author does a good job weaving this tale with enough historical references and figures to make a plausible account. Very enjoyable

Just buy it

Ok I will be brief. This is my first ever review and I have hundreds of books on here. Just imagine historical fiction altered with lots of military action with snippets of humor and romance. And I loved the inclusion of famous people. It made it feel authentic and real. I was sad it wasn’t longer.

Great story but very predictable

After a certain point of listening, it became very apparent what was going to happen. This may be due to me listening to this one shortly after 1901 but it did hamper how much I enjoyed the story to a degree. Still would reccomend giving this a listen though.

His books are always great fun.

Full of families names from WW2, this alternative history is a light fun listen for a weekend, Enjoy.

Good story

Tells the advances of war technology of the era. Good narration however General Lejeune is pronounced with a “u” sound not an “a” sound. It’s been Americanized.