Even a non-history buff could easily pick up that this was a Civil War re-written with magic tale. But when I finished it, I couldn't figure out why I'd read it. None of the generals were particularly compelling, it was clear from the word go what was going to happen, many passages were way-overwritten. Turtledove was highly recommended to me, but I'm awfully glad I picked this up at the library and didn't buy it!