Another book in the "1632" Universe by Eric Flint. The basic premise of the series is that an alien (the Assiti) "shard" (whatever that is) broke off and struck a West Virginian mining town in 1990. The result is that a 6 mile diameter of the town was transported to 1630's Germany in the middle of the 30 Year's War.
Other than that "sci fi" setup, the rest of the books explore the "what if" without any further sci-fi. So, this town goes back with whatever such a town in 1990 is likely to have, and there are no further trips back and forth in time.
The series is not a traditional series. There is no arching goal or theme. There will be no resolution. It's just a very well down romp in the past via "alternate history". A whole online community has formed around the series with some serious geeks (are folks interested in ancient metal working "geeks"?) working out very real "what could happen".
In this book, Gallileo is on trial. And yet, all the powers that be, including the Pope have read the history books the Grantville (the town that went back) folks had. So they KNOW Gallileo was right. Some EXCELLENT musings on church politics that neither bash Catholicism nor promote it. It's just darn good "what if". There's fun characters in the form of three teenage boys from "up time" who get involved in a caper with "down time" Italian revolutionaries who decide to break Gallileo out of "prison" (he was under house arrest, actually).
I love these books and will definitely continue reading in the series. The first couple of books (1632, 1633) can be had for free from the Baen Free Library (
www.baen.com/library). All but the last book can be had for free from the Baen CD's hosted at The Fifth Imperium (all above board and legit):
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/2...EasternFrontCD
Lee