which alternative history books are the best?
Printed From: History Community ~ All Empires
Category: Scholarly Pursuits
Forum Name: Literary Pursuits
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Topic: which alternative history books are the best?
Posted By: Guess
Subject: which alternative history books are the best?
Date Posted: 22-May-2008 at 04:11
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By best, I mean most plausible. I know alot are BS. Which ones are written the best.
Could have some SciFi element in it if its incorporated well and the rest of it is based on solid history. |
Replies:
Posted By: Aelfgifu
Date Posted: 22-May-2008 at 19:05
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I don't know a lot of alternative history books, but a very good one I read was Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy. It quite realistically tells of a Soviet invasion into Europe, and the subsequent events, from the point of view of a lot of different characters in all sorts of factions and positions. ------------- 
Women hold their councils of war in kitchens: the knives are there, and the cups of coffee, and the towels to dry the tears. |
Posted By: Peteratwar
Date Posted: 23-May-2008 at 08:44
| Turtledove has done varying ones. |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 13-Aug-2008 at 06:05
| Willim Forstchen & Newt Gingrich wrote an trilogy about the South winning Gettysburg and the rest of the war from that point. |
Posted By: gcle2003
Date Posted: 13-Aug-2008 at 16:55
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I'm just re-reading The Once and Future King by T.H.White. It's not a serious alternative history book in the sense of really trying to answer the question '"hat would have happened if..." But it is an alternate history in which the land of Malory's Morte d'Arthur is real, and the Angevin succession a fable.
And it has a wealth of knowledge about heraldry, weaponry, wild life, field sports and hunting. As well as a fascinating version of an old story. And a plethora of arguments against violence, and aggressive war. ------------- |
Posted By: Parnell
Date Posted: 13-Aug-2008 at 18:12
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Not really sure what you mean by alternative history, but sometimes anti-mainstream historiography makes it way into the mainstream. I read 'Origins of the Second World War' by AJP Taylor last year for college, his arguments are now regarded as pretty mainstream thought but back then were groundbreaking and controversial...
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Posted By: Erasmus Folly
Date Posted: 23-Aug-2008 at 13:13
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Certainly one of the best is The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick. This novel won the Hugo award for best SF novel in 1963. It was not the first alternative history novel but it helped define the genre.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:TheManInTheHighCastle%281stEd%29.jpg">
 http://www.pkdickbooks.com/LargeCovers/SFNovels/ManInTheHighCastlePenguin1976.jpg">  The novel is set in the former ------------- One must think like a Hero merely to behave like a decent Human Being. |
Posted By: Maharbbal
Date Posted: 24-Aug-2008 at 14:21
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I'd say the Plot against America by Philip Roth and Fatherland by Robert Harris both based in a 1960s world after a Nazi victory during WWII. In both cases the US has gone a step closer toward dictatorship under the rule of Kennedy (the father not JFK). One is set in the US, the other in Germany. Both excellent int their own genre.
------------- I am a free donkey! |
Posted By: Count Belisarius
Date Posted: 24-Aug-2008 at 15:24
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The belisarius series by David drake and Eric flint is a truly excellent read. ------------- 
Defenders of Ulthuan, Cult of Asuryan (57 Kills and counting) 
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Posted By: Caoimhe
Date Posted: 17-Sep-2008 at 19:42
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Niall Ferguson's, Virtual history: alternatives and counterfactuals is an alright one. ------------- During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. |
Posted By: JanusRook
Date Posted: 18-Sep-2008 at 20:30
   All of these are by Robert Cowley and they are all very good reads, they use a bunch of short (10 pages or so) essays to describe different historical scenarios. I'd recommend these for sure. ------------- Economic Communist, Political Progressive, Social Conservative. Unless otherwise noted source is wiki. |
Posted By: chean
Date Posted: 12-Mar-2009 at 16:46
| One of my favourites is Harry Turtledove's 'The Two Georges'. The basic plot is a detective story set in an America that never left the British Empire. It's a pretty good story and has quite an interesting view of an alternate America. |
Posted By: opuslola
Date Posted: 09-Nov-2009 at 16:44
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http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=2&oq=faren&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ADBR_enUS315US315&q=fahrenheit+451
A Ray Bradbury classic! There is also a movie version, which is very good! I feel the usage of "Alternative History" is miss-applied here! It should also include histories which disagree how the past is already arraigned! In that case, there are dozens also. ------------- http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/history/ |