Author | Harry Turtledove |
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Language | English |
Genre | Alternate history |
Publisher | New American Library |
Publication date | November 4, 2003 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
Pages | 464 pages |
ISBN | 0-451-52902-2 |
OCLC | 52030530 |
813/.54 21 | |
LC Class | PS3570.U76 I54 2003 |
In the Presence of Mine Enemies is a 2003 alternate history novel by American author Harry Turtledove,[1] expanded from the eponymous short story. The title comes from Psalm 23:5. The novel depicts a world in which the United States remained isolationist and so did not participate in the Second World War, thus allowing a victory to the Axis powers, which divided the world among themselves. However, some years after the war, the Third World War occurred and featured the Axis powers defeating the United States and Canada.
Set in 2010, the novel focuses on Heinrich Gimpel and a small group of Jews who survived the Holocaust by passing as Gentiles; all the book's viewpoint characters are members of this secret Jewish group. The events occur against a backdrop that parallels the Soviet Union's last days, with characters based upon Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, and others.