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The Red Napoleon
Published in 1929, this classic social-science-fiction novel is a tale of the future in which we are now living: the angry rise of the Third World, supported by communism and desperately resisted by capitalist countries.
The story closes in what is now the faintly distant past, 1941, when at the novel’s dramatic climax North America wins a great sea battle in the Caribbean, defeating the world-conquering hordes of the Mongol Karakhan, the “Red Napoleon,” which have invaded Canada and penetrated the Eastern seaboard of the United States.
Gibbons’s prophetic view includes the beginning of the Second World War with a lightning thrust into Poland, the unification of China, worldwide depression, and the astonishing prediction of the rise of the Third World and the conflict over white supremacy.
In a brilliant Afterword to this new edition, John Gardner notes that time has proven Gibbons right, that this is a book “to bring above-ground into light”; it is, he states, a “landmark that slipped by unnoticed.”
The story closes in what is now the faintly distant past, 1941, when at the novel’s dramatic climax North America wins a great sea battle in the Caribbean, defeating the world-conquering hordes of the Mongol Karakhan, the “Red Napoleon,” which have invaded Canada and penetrated the Eastern seaboard of the United States.
Gibbons’s prophetic view includes the beginning of the Second World War with a lightning thrust into Poland, the unification of China, worldwide depression, and the astonishing prediction of the rise of the Third World and the conflict over white supremacy.
In a brilliant Afterword to this new edition, John Gardner notes that time has proven Gibbons right, that this is a book “to bring above-ground into light”; it is, he states, a “landmark that slipped by unnoticed.”
- GenresAlternate History
504 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1929
41 people want to read
About the author
Floyd Gibbons
21 books1 followerWar correspondent for the Chicago Tribune during World War I.
His most well known are his reports on the Pancho Villa Expedition and the sinking of the RMS Laconia on which he was a passenger.
He lost an eye in world war I due German gunfire.
In 1918 he got awarded the French military award Croix de Guerre & in 1941 he was awarded an gold medal by the marine corps and became a honorary member.
His most well known are his reports on the Pancho Villa Expedition and the sinking of the RMS Laconia on which he was a passenger.
He lost an eye in world war I due German gunfire.
In 1918 he got awarded the French military award Croix de Guerre & in 1941 he was awarded an gold medal by the marine corps and became a honorary member.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 26, 2020
One of the best military sci-fi and alternate history novels i ever read.
Some points may be look out of date for modern readers- but not in US-1929. Yeah, black communist armies under the rainbow banner sound familiar, dont they?
Some points may be look out of date for modern readers- but not in US-1929. Yeah, black communist armies under the rainbow banner sound familiar, dont they?
October 4, 2011
Definitely dated, however, it captures the spirit its times. Printed in 1929, does good job of predicting who would be the leaders in a world war, and where the attacks would come. Kharakan of Kazan is Red Napoleon and gets defeated in the naval Battle of the Windward Passage, a good choice to replicate in Avalance Press’ WWII naval game plus the 1890’s game for the map.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews