A Rebel In Time

By Harry Harrison

Book Overview

A classic time-travel adventure about altering the outcome of the War Between the States. On the fields where Civil War battles have yet to be fought, a black sergeant takes on a mad colonel with a machine gun and $25 million in gold--with the winner to determine the course of history.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0523485549
• ISBN13: 9780523485546
• Release Date: January 1983
• Publisher: Tor
• Length: 315 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.8" x 4.1"

Customer Reviews

Battle to avoid changing history

Excellent time travel adventure by Harry Harrison. An undercover US Army investigator, Troy Harmon, is posted to keep an eye on a southern colonel, Wes McCulloch, who is in charge of security at a top secret research establishment and is suspected of various nefarious deeds. The colonel's activities turn out to be even worse than anyone had suspected and Troy has to follow him back in time to stop him changing history. Some points of similarity to Harry Turtledove's brilliant book, "The Guns of the South." If you like "Rebel in Time" you will probably love "The Guns of the South." If you liked that book there is a good chance that you will enjoy this one. However, "Rebel in Time" is more of a detective and time travel book, where "The Guns of the South starts that way and then becomes alternative history. "Rebel in Time" also has some points of similarity with "For King and Country" by Robert Asprin and Linda Evans, in which an extremist from one of the communities in Ireland tries to prevent the other from coming into existence. Again, if you like that book you will probably like this one and vice versa. Certain aspects of the story stretch credibility a little - as other reviewers have pointed out, an African American might not have been the operative with the best chance of foiling Colonel McCulloch. However, Harrison was alive to the issues Troy Harmon would have faced and his account of how Harmon rises to the challenge is part of what makes it an entertaining story.

A fun book.

This is an interesting concept, and was run to read. I'm glad to see it back in print. I had a hard time finding it.

A Pretty Good Time Travel Novel

I found this book to be a pretty good read. I don't think Harry Harrison is quite the master of alternative history that Harry Turtledove is but he is a good writer. Most of the book deals with the present and is a detective novel. The last third of the book takes place juste before and during the civil war. I thought the first half of the book was very well paced and written and if the entire book had maintained the same tempo it would have deserved 5 stars. I felt the last part of the book, although satisfactory, was a little rushed and trite. Definitely worth a read.

American Civil War Almost Unfairly influenced

Not many have much to say about time travel - and those that do can get bogged down with 'flux capacitors' and other such techno-babble. Harry Harrison is always a good read, and when it comes to time travel stories he has you constantly thinking about the possibilities and the accompanying paradoxes (what if you kill your grandfather, will you cease to exist ?). Rebel in time is a simple story about a white racist army officer, who, when he realises the possibilities of the time machine project he's assigned to, decides to go back in time (complete with gun blueprints and modern army expertise) to reverse the result of the American Civil War in favour of the South. The man sent to find him has a few problems. Hes black, and is also sent back in time. A modern day black man in the deep south at the onset of the civil war, has more than the normal set of problems to deal with - but he handles them well. A good read indeed and the idea of a paradox is always there. The ends are tied up fairly well in the last chapter, but theres just enough loose ends to leave you thinking.