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Available
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Publication
London : Macmillan, 2002.
Description
There is no surer way to feel the danger or the good fortune of our collective past than to contemplate those moments when the world's future hung in the balance. Our brightest historians speculate on some of these intriguing crossroads and the ways in which our lives might have been changed for the better -- or the worse. These unabridged essays range across the full span of history. Geoffrey Parker describes ramifications that might have included a divided Reformation movement, a strengthened Catholic leadership, and no European settlements in the Americas. And Caleb Carr argues that we could have been spared the horrific last six months of World War II in Europe if Eisenhower had seized his chance to destroy the Nazis in the fall of 1944. This all-star list of award-winning and bestselling authors includes Lance Morrow, Andrew Roberts, Cecelia Holland, Theodore F. Cook and others.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member kaelirenee
This collection of essays posit what could have happened if rulers died early, people put up different resistances, etc. I'm sure to fully enjoy it requires more historical knowledge than I possess. Still, most of it seemed overblown and many assumptions were just too far-reaching.
LibraryThing member Nodosaurus
I was a bit disappointed in this collection, but it was mostly a personal taste. Some of the writers' styles were not to my liking. But several of the stories seemed to fall short of their promise, focusing more on the history around their chosen event and just suggestions of alternate sequences of
Some of the stories worked very well, exploring Churchill's politics and his influence on WWII.
Overall, I suspect the scope of speculative fiction doesn't work well with the short story format.
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events. The history of the potato was very interesting and the author raised some real question about what could have happened if any of a number of events had varied, but he did not write any real alternate stories. I felt this story didn't deliver what the book promised. Some of the stories worked very well, exploring Churchill's politics and his influence on WWII.
Overall, I suspect the scope of speculative fiction doesn't work well with the short story format.
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LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
This is a set of essays dealing with issues that might have gone in two or more directions if one or two things had turned out differently. The twenty-five essays cover topics ranging from the absence of Socrates due to a possible death in battle, past the execution as an heretic of Martin Luther,
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to the lack of potatoes in the history of European population expansion. It's an interesting read due to the number and eminence of the essayists. Another possible use is as a primer of historical methods used by the essayists, if one were doing a course on their works. Show Less
LibraryThing member Nodosaurus
I was a bit disappointed in this collection, but it was mostly a personal taste. Some of the writers’ styles were not to my liking. But several of the stories seemed to fall short of their promise, focusing more on the history around their chosen event and just suggestions of alternate sequences
Some of the stories worked very well, exploring Churchill’s politics and his influence on WWII.
Overall, I suspect the scope of speculative fiction doesn’t work well with the short story format.
Show More
of events. The history of the potato was very interesting and the author raised some real question about what could have happened if any of a number of events had varied, but he did not write any real alternate stories. I felt this story didn’t deliver what the book promised.Some of the stories worked very well, exploring Churchill’s politics and his influence on WWII.
Overall, I suspect the scope of speculative fiction doesn’t work well with the short story format.
Show Less
LibraryThing member mattries37315
The path untrodden, counterfactual reality, or simply alternate history. Twenty-five of the 20th Century’s eminent historians look at what might have been in the essay anthology What If? 2 edited by contributor Robert Cowley.
The twenty-five essays range from 424 B.C. in Ancient Greece to the 1948
What If? 2: Eminent Historians Imagine What Might Have Been is an interesting set of essays, a lot are knowledgeable for someone who doesn’t know specific points talked about however the “alternate” aspect was lacking compared to the previous collection.
The twenty-five essays range from 424 B.C. in Ancient Greece to the 1948
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Elections in the United States covering a variety of topics though for roughly 300 of the 430 pages covered the time between 1912 and 1948. Unlike the previous volume, many of the essays focused on the actual event than going into an alternative scenario or would briefly speculate about things happening differently in the last two paragraphs. The essays that focused on the assignment that were good were Thomas K. Rabb’s essay on Charles I dying in 1641 of the plague and adverting the English Civil War, Alistair Horne’s fanciful piece on Napoleon III not taking Otto von Bismark’s bait to advert the Franco-Prussian war, George Feifer’s essay on Lenin on influencing the Russian Revolution, and Richard B. Frank’s essay on if the United States hadn’t dropped the atomic bombs.What If? 2: Eminent Historians Imagine What Might Have Been is an interesting set of essays, a lot are knowledgeable for someone who doesn’t know specific points talked about however the “alternate” aspect was lacking compared to the previous collection.
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Subjects
Language
Original publication date
2001
Physical description
xvii, 427 p.; 24 cm
ISBN
9780333905104
DDC/MDS
| 909 |