Some books are fun to read and review even a couple of years after they are published. That is especially true if they are novels, do not sell well and suddenly become available for no more than a dollar or three from Edward Hamilton, Bookseller or some other discounter. Such a novel is “1901.” There is something in it for students of President Theodore Roosevelt, of Confederate General James ("Old Pete”) Longstreet of Gettysburg fame, for military tacticians and strategists and for folks who just like a rollicking good yarn.

There is just enough historical truth behind “1901” to make it possible to suspend disbelief and enjoy a tale rooted in German Kaiser Wilhelm II’s lust for empire and his fictional belief that God intended the Americans to share with him a modest portion of the fruits of their 1898 war with Spain: Guam or the Philippines, perhaps, or maybe Puerto Rico. With the world’s most awesome land forces at his disposal, the Kaiser invades Long Island and prepares his navy to shield it until the Americans come to their senses.

The challenge ruptures President McKinley’s weak heart and he is promptly succeeded by his Vice President, Theodore Roosevelt of Rough Rider fame, San Juan hill, etc. Not for nothing is the first Roosevelt called “the Sage of Sagamore” (his New York residence). He is one of quite a few who believe that the American Civil War could have been shortened by two years had the Union but tenaciously followed “the Anaconda plan” of its then commander-in-chief of the army, General Winfield Scott. 

Teddy deftly or daftly (your call) at this moment of great peril summons the now deaf octogenarian erstwhile Confederate General James Longfield back into service of his country. The plot then leaps forward with support from Longfield, Roosevelt and a supporting cast of cabinet members and a young fictional hero, Major Patrick Mahan, cousin of the great naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan. The Major's earlier acquaintance with Kaiser Wilhelm and observation of German military behavior in Peking during the Boxer rebellion are pressed into service. By story’s end Patrick is a general and bearer of the Congressional Medal of Honor. He is married and about to run for Congress.

Despite 25,000 casualties the Americans have inflicted 40,000 on the German invaders and prevailed in a massive naval engagement. The Kaiser goes off to exile in Denmark. Subplots of romance, cross cultural friendships and brutalities complicate a basically simple story line. This is not a book to be read slowly or searching for metaphysical significance. For the historian there are vignettes of German leaders which lend some plausibility to the plot.

Robert Conroy. 1901.Novato, CA.  Lyford Books. 1995. 374 pp.
$21.95]

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