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Bookshelf Nominations
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Bookshelf Nominations: ALTERNATIVE HISTORY [now online]
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The "What if?" - What if Queen Elizabeth 1 wasn't so much, "The Virgin Queen" as "The very slutty and debauched Queen who couldn't get no satisfaction"? Or something like that. And it's set 100 years after the real Elizabeth 1, and there are alternative worlds. It's complicated.
Dominion by C. J. Sansom What if 1952. Twelve years have passed since Britain surrendered to Nazi Germany.
Petra wrote: "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: what if magic were a part of life at the time of the Napoleonic War?"Huh. I never thought of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell as being Alternate History, but now that you mention it, I can see the argument....
I am not sure if this qualifies but I nominate .White Lotus by John Hershey which charts an America conquered by the Chinese. Written in 65 at the height of the race conflicts, this book definitely offers an alternative history
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What If?: The World's Foremost Historians Imagine What Might Have Been and What If? 2 nonfiction I haven't read these but I own second book andit does look interesting.
Matt Ruff's The Mirage is a recent novel. Its 'What-If' premise is more of an alternative/inverted history. What if it were Christian fundamentalists who hijacked planes and flew them into targets in the Middle East?
Genevieve wrote: "Matt Ruff's The Mirage is a recent novel. Its 'What-If' premise is more of an alternative/inverted history. What if it were Christian fundamentalists who hijacked planes and flew them into targets ..."That concept sounds fascinating. TBR'd!
Riona wrote: "Genevieve wrote: "Matt Ruff's The Mirage is a recent novel. Its 'What-If' premise is more of an alternative/inverted history. What if it were Christian fundamentalists who hijacked planes and flew ..."It would definitely foment discussion if just for the topic. Matt Ruff is also one of the most underrated writers out there-- at least for sheer imagination.
The Years of Rice and Salt - what if instead of killing only ~30% of Europe's population, the Black Death killed 99%, leaving the rest of the world to develop along very different paths?
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This sounds really interesting. What did you think about it?
Stephanie Trinity wrote: "The Years of Rice and Salt - what if instead of killing only ~30% of Europe's population, the Black Death killed 99%, leaving the rest of the world to develop along very different paths?" I see this is by Kim Stanley Robinson. He is one of my favorites. I will have to check this out.
Karen wrote: "Stephanie Trinity wrote: "The Years of Rice and Salt - what if instead of killing only ~30% of Europe's population, the Black Death killed 99%, leaving the rest of the world to develop along very d..."I liked this book quite a lot, and I think Kim Stanley Robinson is one of the best authors writing in sf.
"The Man in the High Castle" by Phillip K. Dick.
What if - the Allies lost WW2, and the US was divided in half between Germany & Japan.
What if - the Allies lost WW2, and the US was divided in half between Germany & Japan.
Joe wrote: ""The Man in the High Castle" by Phillip K. Dick. What if - the Allies lost WW2, and the US was divided in half between Germany & Japan."
Already mentioned upthread -- it was the second book nominated.
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I think we should probably add Never Let Me Go.
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Stephanie Trinity wrote: "The Years of Rice and Salt - what if instead of killing only ~30% of Europe's population, the Black Death killed 99%, leaving the rest of the world to develop along very different paths?"The Years of Rice and Salt may belong here, but I was completely disappointed. Robinson never really tackled the question of "how is the world changed by not having the European Renaissance?" My review: "It's not that the book is badly written - it isn't - but I thought I was reading a "what-if-European-civilization-had-never-developed" novel, but really it seems completely irrelevant that the Europeans were wiped out in a plague. Instead, it's a series of vignettes about life in other parts of the world, that seem like they could have occurred with or without Europeans present."
Derek wrote: "I've yet to manage anything Pynchon! I'm intimidated. The Public Burning sounds interesting."Great! I'm a huge Pynchon fan, he is admittedly tough but his books are surprisingly gripping. I only read a Coover short story, , but it's one of the best ever :-)
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You should start a discussion of this one in Short Reads.
Whitney wrote: "You should start a discussion of this one in Short Reads. "Thanks for the idea, Whitney, I created a thread for it :-)
"It couldn't happen here". Oldie but goldie.
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Book title link please?
Chaos Reading
Books mentioned in this topic
The Public Burning (other topics)Mason & Dixon (other topics)
The Public Burning (other topics)
The Years of Rice and Salt (other topics)
The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Thomas Pynchon (other topics)Kim Stanley Robinson (other topics)
C.J. Sansom (other topics)
Michael Moorcock (other topics)
Another definition I quite like is that Alternative History is basically a "what if....." For example, "What if Germany had won WWII?" or "What if JFK hadn't been shot?"
So what are our very favourite alternative history novels?
To make it interesting, try and tell us the "what if" premise too, (IF you can do it without revealing spoilers).