I FINISHED JOHN BIRMINGHAM’S DESIGNATED TARGETS last night. Very enjoyable alt-history, and he focuses interestingly on the differences (and similarities) between the Greatest Generation of 1942, and the generation of just-after-today. Birmingham also has a blog, where he notes that he’s gotten a lot of grief for making Hillary Clinton (in the first book of the series, Weapons of Choice) “the most uncompromising wartime President in the history of the United States.”

I thought that was quite funny, and not entirely implausible. (That they put her name on a George Bush-class aircraft carrier is funny, too.) There are lots of criticisms you can make about Hillary, but even her critics don’t accuse her of lacking backbone, or a killer instinct. Birmingham’s book is full of insider references, including several to the works of Steve Stirling and Eric Flint. You don’t have to get them to enjoy the book, but they’re fun.