Turtledove's alternate history of a century-long American civil war continues ...The third book in the Settling Accounts sequence takes the story to 1944, the most violent year of an utterly different World War II. The United States have found their fighting form at last. Pushed back from Pittsburgh, the Confederate States of America are struggling to hold their ground against an American army that seems to grow stronger by the day. While the United States press on towards the Mississippi valley, Jake Featherston's strategists in Richmond look for some way - any way - to slow down their inexorable advance. Deep in the heartland the extermination camps continue, but when all hope seems lost for their victims, the United States army turns at last towards the Texas plains. The fate of both sides, though, may lie elsewhere. A new menace appears in the Atlantic, intent on attacking the United States and scientists on both sides of the rapidly-moving border have nearly perfected an awesome new weapon that will guarantee victory for whoever uses it first. The greatest war of the twentieth century - fought this time in the heart of America - moves towards its blood-soaked climax.