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When the Almond Tree Blossoms
by David Aikman
Product Group: Book
Publisher: W Pub Group (1993-05)
ISBN: 0849909627
EAN: 9780849909627
Dewy Decimal #: 813.54
Hardcover: 382 pages
SKU: MOZ123540
Condition: Fine
Comments: 0849909627 Book free of markings. Cover shows very light wear. This book shows little to no evidence of having been used; very pretty copy. Your book will be carefully protected for transit in sturdy, weather-resistant packaging. We are prompt, efficient, communicative.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
David Aikman, former senior foreign correspondent for Time magazine, produces the scenario for a potential international war game in When the Almond Tree Blossoms. In this book the world's most powerful nation is controlled by a radical, collectivist regime bent on maintaining control despite a growing nuclear threat from the resistance. Aikman addresses world politics, secret agendas and ultimately biblical prophecy in this thriller.
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Customer Reviews
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Slow pace and an unsatisfying ending.
Rating  (2)
Date: 2007-08-18
The pace of the book is very uneven. When it focuses on the espionage part it is for the most part at least somewhat interesting, but too often when it's getting interesting, Aikman stops the action to go into overlong descriptions of life in a submarine, or General Hodges's life story. On the other hand, he never really lets us get to know Ritchfield, the main character very well. Not enough at least for me to really care about him. There's also several examples of repetition, where the author explains things he's already explained. But apart from the slow pace, the biggest problem is probably that the book leaves way too many loose ends. Like the most obvious question, who won the war in the end? It's like there was supposed to be a sequel that was never written. I would not recommend buying this book.
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A(n) historical fictionalist who keeps up with the times
Rating  (5)
Date: 2006-01-20
Some reviewers have claimed that Mr. Aikman left out elements of his story, perhaps in a rush to beat some expected denouement that would render this or that episode less convincing, or even more scary than his readers would wish. He has even, they say, written this book in the manner in which he did write it so that it could later be re-marketed as the prequel of a sequel. In fact, he has indeed written a sequel, "The spiritual journey of George W. Bush", which also left out a few things, now being re-written in a SECOND sequel, now that it is clear to all that Young Bush is just as dangerous to America and Christianity as his openly godless father, who never went to church OR JC Penny's, but obb-nobbed about the globe with the World Council on Foreign Relations, Communists, Saudi princes and Saddam Hussein. Now Little George can be clearly seen as a saboteur of America's Christian Essence, what with his Holiday Cards and Trees, which are concessions to the "worst elements in this country" as an important Christian savant proclaimed.
Wait for the second edition of "Spiritual Journey". Though you may be perturbed, you will not be disappointed. And you thought Nicolae Whatzizname was bad!
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Novel has good action, but too inplausable.
Rating  (3)
Date: 2004-10-07
1 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
David Aikman's alternate history novel(At the time of its release it had an alternate near future, but I'll call it an alt history) is better than I thought it would be when I read the first dreadfully slow pages. It manages to make me like the "hero" Douglas Ritchfield, a man of little princple who begins through the actions of a young woman to believe in something for once in his life: rebellion against a tyrancial, collectivist regime. The way in this regime comes into power is ridiculous at best, and Aikman should have known better. Also the way a ultra-right-wing Russia is involved strains credulity. This could have been overcome, but Aikman then decided to go for one of the most Byzantine and contrived climaxes I have ever read, where the hero sneaks in a very cryptic message refering to an obscure Bible passage that happens to be the name of a very secret project involving nuclear submarines, and then..somehow the submarine crew knows EXACTLY how to interpret this cryptic message. If you want to spend a day with some action that requires you to check your brain at the door, then this could be for you.
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A Cautionary Tale of Liberalism
Rating (5)
Date: 2002-12-05
4 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book is a masterpiece. Not only is the writing good, but the story is scary and realistic. The "fiction" of which Aikman wrote is just around the corner if "liberal" leftists take over the country. All one has to do is look at the totalitarianism in the schools, media and govermment wherever the leftists are in charge. Imagine a government where mere speech is a crime; where being a "white" person is grounds for discrimination and hatred; where perverted sex acts are taught in schools. The horrors of the left could become a reality if the people fail to remain vigilant. Read this book and tremble.
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Not bad, but in places unintentionally funny.
Rating (3)
Date: 2002-08-22
2 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
Like many futuristic tales (from Sinclair Lewis It Can't Happen Here to Margaret Attwood's The Handmaid's Tale), this book creates a plausible future for the time of publication but one which grows dated as time passes. In the end, we learn more about the author's prejudices than about the future. Aikman clearly believed the worst about American left-wing politics (his depiction of two "mainstream" reporters and a cabinet meeting composed of factions of the looney left are hilarious, probably unintentionally). He's better when he deals with his heroes and his main Russian villain (though he verges on parody here as well). So we get an enjoyable thriller but not one to take too seriously. Although his prediction of America's fall starting with an economic collapse and a disastrous pre-emptive strike in the Persian Gulf is starting to look credible. But the danger is more from the American right, than left.
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