View source for Watch on the Rhine (novel)

{{Short description|2005 novel by John Ringo}}
{{Infobox book
| name          = Watch on the Rhine
| title_orig    =
| translator    =
| image         = Ring wotr.JPG
| caption       = Paperback cover
| author        = [[John Ringo]]<br/>[[Tom Kratman]]
| illustrator   =
| cover_artist  =
| country       = United States
| language      = English
| series        = [[Legacy of the Aldenata]]
| genre         = [[Military science fiction]]
| publisher     = [[Baen Books]]
| release_date  = August 2005
| english_release_date =
| media_type    = Hardcover & paperback
| pages         = 496
| isbn =  978-1-4165-2120-4
| preceded_by   =
| followed_by   =
}}
'''''Watch on the Rhine''''' is a [[military science fiction]] novel by [[John Ringo]] and  [[Tom Kratman]], the seventh entry in Ringo's ''[[Legacy of the Aldenata]]'' series.
The novel focuses on the invasion of Europe by the alien Posleen, with an emphasis on Germany. Part of the technology brought to humans by the Galactics is the ability to rejuvenate old soldiers, so that countries can draw on their combat experiences. In Germany, this leads to the controversial decision to reactivate the [[Waffen-SS]].
The book's title is a reference to the 19th-century German nationalist song "[[Die Wacht am Rhein]]".
==Reception==
The ''[[Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung]]'' published a scathingly negative review by [[Dietmar Dath]]. Summing up the novel's attitude as "cool retro-fascism from the future", the reviewer wrote that the authors' main aim (apart from propagating crude stereotypes about European countries) seemed to be to pontificate about the perceived failings of Western society, such as pacifism and environmentalism, to which the rejuvenated Waffen-SS appear intended to provide a positive contrast.<ref>{{cite news|last=Dath|first=Dietmar|title=Weltretter Himmler|url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/buecher/buecher-weltretter-himmler-1256225.html|accessdate=8 July 2012|newspaper=Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung|date=8 September 2005}}</ref>
''Sfreviews.net''{{'}}s reviewer likewise expressed incredulity at the novel's ahistorical conceit of portraying the Waffen-SS as misunderstood patriots who disagreed with the Nazis' genocidal policies, and at the writers' "pandering to the wingnut extreme of the far right" by drawing analogies from protests against resistance to alien invaders to real-life antiwar movements.<ref>{{cite news|last=Wagner|first=Thomas M.|title=WATCH ON THE RHINE|url=http://www.sfreviews.net/watchontherhine.html|accessdate=8 July 2012|newspaper=[[sfreviews.net]]}}</ref> ''[[Publishers Weekly]]'' described the novel as "audacious and deliberately shocking" in a starred review, adding that "Readers who can overcome their ideological gag reflex will be rewarded with an exciting view from "the other side of the hill."<ref>{{cite news|title=Watch on the Rhine (Die Wacht am Rhein)|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-7434-9918-7|accessdate=9 November 2012|newspaper=Publishers Weekly|date=18 July 2005}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Aldenata}}
[[Category:2005 American novels]]
[[Category:Novels by John Ringo]]
[[Category:Legacy of the Aldenata]]
[[Category:2005 science fiction novels]]
[[Category:American science fiction novels]]
[[Category:Military science fiction novels]]
[[Category:Novels set in Germany]]
{{2000s-mil-sf-novel-stub}}