By Orson Scott Card

     Have you ever wondered if history repeats itself? Whether all great nations will eventually follow in the same footsteps of those who went ahead of them.

     This time out Orson Card looks back and reminds us that Rome did not become truly famous and take over most of Europe, Africa and the Middle East until it had finished it’s Republican democratic stage. Only when Emperors took over, with no partisan politics to sidetrack them, did they begin to achieve worldwide fame and become the envy of those who were outside the Roman Empire. The first few Emperors of Rome believed that they were serving the people and not their own interests. That they were bringing peace, civilization and education to the unenlightened heathens of the world. They worked to make the Empire great.

     Based on these ideas, he has written another superb book – not about the Romans. It’s about what he imagines will happen in the United States to create the Pax Americana, the American Peace, throughout the world. The Romans did not step into greatness until they conquered Carthage in a civil war between the states of the Italian peninsula. Is it possible that a second Civil War in America would accomplish the same? Would people gratefully unite behind someone they believed could take away the threat of death and bullying and hostilities of all types?

     The story of the Second Civil War is told from the viewpoint of a small group of Special Ops soldiers who are recruited to perform secret missions both inside the United States and around the world in the not very distant future. As events unfold they worry that they may have been used by forces trying to break up the American government which they have sworn to uphold and obey. They have promised never to kill Americans on American soil. Will they be forced to do so in the service of the government they are sworn to protect?

     I suspect that you will be looking for a certain type of ending to this intriguing and interesting tale than what you will find. Don’t cheat and read the last few pages early on. It will spoil a logical outcome based on the storyline. I suspect that this writer could lead people to believe things which are counter-intuitive to the current fashions of thought in the world.

     Another great read from a good storyteller.