An alternate history. From the back: 
 "1632. And in northern Germany things couldn't get much worse. Famine. Disease. Religious war laying waste the cities. Only the aristocrats remained relatively unscathed; for the peasants, death was a mercy. 
 2000. Things are going OK in Grantville, West Virginia and everybody attending the wedding of Mike Stearn's sister (including the entire local chapter of the United Mine Workers of America which Mike leads) is having a good time. 
 THEN EVERYTHING CHANGED... 
 When the dust settles, Mike leads a group of armed miners to find out what happened and finds the road into the town is cut, as with a sword. On the other side, a scene out of Hell: a man nailed to a farmhouse door, his wife and daughter attacked by men in steel vests. Faced with this, Mike and his friends don't have to ask who to shoot. At that moment Freedom and Justice, American style, are introduced to the middle of the Thirty Year's War." 
 My review: 
 A gripping action tale, kept me intrigued. The history is well-researched and an integral part of the story. My main beef is with the characters. As is typical of this kind of book, the good guys are very very good and the bad guys are very very bad. There seems to be little depth. But it doesn't affect the plot driven story much. You just go with the flow and enjoy the flag waving.