Raj Whitehall Books In Order

Publication Order of Raj Whitehall/The General Books

Raj Whitehall is the name of the lead character in the famous series written by author S.M. Stirling, The General series. The series is based on the military science fiction genre and was created by author David Drake, who gave an outline to the novels of the series along with other authors like Eric Flint and Tony Daniel. Based on the lead character of the series, it is also known by the name, The Raj Whitehall series. It has very elements which show that the authors have been inspired by the Byzantine commander, Belisarius for developing the character of Raj Whitehall. The novels of the series depict the planet Bellevue, which was supposed to be the home of a high-tech civilization once, but has now collapsed. It is shown to be redeveloping slowly. The first five novels of the series comprise of plots based on the Bellevue series, which were written by authors Drake and Stirling. This was followed several follow-up series’ written by authors Drake, Eric Flint, and Tony Daniel, such as the Visigar series, the Hafardine series, and the Duisberg series. The General series is currently going on as the authors are working collaboratively to release the latest novel of the series.

There is a total of 10 books in the series published between the years 1991 and 2014. In the first five novels of the series, plant Bellevue is described as the part of the galactic civilization, whose interplanetary civilizations had collapsed during the civil war called as ‘The Fall’. Due to this, the high-technology on the planet had greatly reduced. As the technology began to redevelop slowly, the most advanced among from the group reached to to a level with double-expansion steam engines, lever-action carbines, breech-loading rifles, cast-steel cannons, revolvers, etc. The design of the breech-loading rifle has remained the same for over 200 hundred years and most groups on the planet still use the percussion cap or flintlock weapons. The whole world seems to follow the religion of The Spirit of Man, which is based on the concept of computer technology. In the later parts of the series it is seen that the religion gets divided into two. The first one is called The Spirit of Man of the Stars, which the religion followed by the Civil Government of the state, while the second one is called as The Spirit of Man of This Earth, which is commonly followed by the Military Governments. Most people on the Bellevue planet speak a number of evolved dialects such as Spanjol, Paytoiz, Sponglish, and Namerique, which apparently consist of the elements of English, Spanish, and French. As there were no horses at the time of The Fall, the cavalry is now being mounted on the dogs of various breeds, weighing thousands of pounds. The novels of the series begin in the year of Fall, 1103 when the main protagonist Raj Whitehall stumbles upon a remnant of the old technology with his friend Thom Poplanich. The remnant seems to be still working and is called as the quantum supercomputer ‘Center’ and is regarded as an angel by Raj and Thom.

The Center describes itself as the entity of the photon subsystems of Bellevue, artificially. It provides a constant mental link to Raj and tasks him to unite the planet of Bellevue. The mental link helps Raj Whitehall to have predictive visions that can stimulate possible situational outcomes, eidetic memory, historical data, as well as some enhancements in physical abilities. The Center keeps Thom as a prisoner saying that he will become a victim of a political assassination, if he goes along with Raj Whitehall. Raj uses the newly acquired assets along with his skills and charisma to become an effective leader of the military forces. Meanwhile, his obstacles and political foes behind the scene get neutralized by his wife Suzette, who makes use of her the highly developed court skills of her own. She helps to compensate for the more direct tactics of Raj Whitehall. The novels of the series focus on the campaigns of General Raj Whitehall near the Midworld Sea, showing his strategic offensive and tactical defensive skills. His fraught relationships with Governor Barholm Clerett and the corrupt chancellor Tzetzas. Whitehall’s nation, Civil Government is centrally located in between the rival nations, The Brigade and The Squadron, and the Muslim Colonists. The character sketches of the central characters of the series are described as follows:

Raj Whitehall
Raj Whitehall is the main protagonist of the series, who goes on to become the General. He gets appointed by the Center to unite the planet of Belluvue and restore the civilization. He goes on to make a number of companions on his campaigns. Throughout the series, he gets suspected and doubted of treason by the Governor Barholm Clerett, even though he keeps proving his loyalty continuously. His campaigns begin with the Islamic Colony and then moving on to The Brigade and The Squadron territories.

Suzette Whitehall
Suzette is the wife of Raj Whitehall and is exceptionally resourceful, strong-willed, and intelligent. She accompanies him on his campaigns and helps him to get rid of his political foes and obstacles. Suzette is also the close friend of Lady Anne Clerett, the wife of Governor Barholm. She is known to use any means possible to convince the potential harms to Raj Whitehall to actually help him in his campaigns, even if it means sleeping with them. A cadre of devoted spies and servants is used by her to gather the intelligence for supporting her husband.

Companions
The Companions include the men who are loyal to General Raj Whitehall. They form the command group of the Expeditionary Forces of Whitehall. During the course of the first novel of the series, when Raj Whitehall indulges in an accident while marching to Komar, Foley, the Gruders, the Staenbridge, M’Lewis, and M’brust volunteer to form The Companions and accompany him.

The first novel of The General series was published in the 1991 by the Baen Books publishing house. It was titled ‘The Forge’ and introduces the planet of Bellevue with a collapsed civilization. After many years of the collapse of the interstellar civilization, Battle Central, a sentient supercomputer selects a young military officer and the main protagonist of the series, Raj Whitehall to restore the fallen glory of the civilization of the planet of Bellevue. He is asked to conquer a planet and then re-conquer the stars. The second novel of the series was published in the year 1992 again by the Baen Books publishing house. It was titled as ‘The Hammer’. The plot of this gives a description about the campaigns of Raj Whitehall and his troops. The hard-bitten troops are required to conquer a continent controlled by the barbarians, which gets descended from the squadron crews full of starships. The biggest problem faced by General Raj Whitehall is the envy and the cowardice among the officers of his own troop.