Weapons of Choice (book)

Weapons of Choice is book one of the Axis of Time Trilogy, written by John Birmingham. In its pages, an advanced, US-led international battlegroup from 2021 (still fighting the war on terror) is thrust back in time to 1942 on the eve of the Battle of Midway as a result of a wormhole experiment that was conducted by scientists on a scientific research ship with the task force at the time. The experiment goes horribly wrong with the research ship being destroyed by the wormhole while the international military task force is engulfed by the wormhole and is sent back in time to 1942 with the ships being deposited in various parts of the world while the majority of the task force winds up being deposited in the Pacific on the eve of the Battle of Midway.

Related Topics:
Axis of Time Trilogy - John Birmingham - Battle of Midway

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Accidentally, the time travelers collide with the US force that would have won the battle, destroying part of it before they realise what's happened. To add to the problems, one of the other ships in the future task force (an Indonesian naval warship) has fallen into the hands of the Japanese and the Axis Powers. The Japanese, along with the Germans, immediately show a great deal of interest in the ship's technology as well as a great deal of interest in the history of the world after World War 2 (especially the parts where the German and Japanese war machines were defeated by the Allies in 1945 and the Cold War period that followed the end of the Second World War).

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Thousands die in the chaos, but the ripples have only begun. For these veterans of Pearl Harbour, led by Admirals Nimitz, Halsey, and Spruance; have never seen a helicopter, or a satellite link, or a nuclear weapon. And they?ve never encountered an African-American colonel or a British naval commander who was a woman and half-Pakistani. While they embrace the armada?s awesome firepower, they may find the twenty-first century military personnel (as well as the reporters that were with the battlegroup when it was taken in 2021 and sent back in time to 1942) themselves far from acceptable.

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Weapons of Choice has been both hailed and critized by members of the Alternative history (fiction) community.

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Del Ray Trade Paperback, 448 pages June 2004 0-345-45712-9

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excerpt

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