One of the questions we love to ask ourselves is “What if?”, well in fiction we have the luxury of answering that question anyway we like. Here are some of the cleverest answers I’ve come across in the genre of Alternative History.
- The Plot Against America– Charles Lindbergh defeats FDR in the 1940 presidential election leading to a rise of antisemitism across the country. What’s chilling is how much this fictional work echoes what we see in America today.
- The Man in the High Castle– The Axis powers win WWII with Japan and Germany dividing up the defeated United States. Phillip K. Dick creates an all too realist world here that is frightening to consider.
- The Guns of the South- Time traveling white supremacists supply the Confederate army with AK-47s guarantying a Southern victory in the Civil War. Turtledove knows his stuff and is a master of taking an absurd premise and making you feel as if this is how real-life historical characters would have responded to these events.
- The Years of Rice and Salt- Instead of killing off a third of Europe’s population, the Black Death wipes out ninety-nine percent of the population. The book covers hundreds of years and explores how the removal of Europe as a major power would affect the rest of the world’s development.
- The Yiddish Policeman’s Union- At the start of WWII Jewish refuges set up a settlement in Alaska and in 1948 Isreal is destroyed. As a result, in the modern world, there is a thriving Jewish community in Alaska. All of that serves as the background for a pretty compelling homicide investigation.
- Dominion- Britain loses WWII and in the 1950s is a puppet state of Nazi Germany. This is a political thriller showing what one couple will do to try to survive under this collaborator regime.
- The Eyre Affair- This version of 1985 has some many divergences I hardly know where to begin but I guess the most important aspect is that literature is taken very seriously in this world. Like gang wars over Shakespearean play preferences. A great comedic novel written for people who love the written word.
- West of Eden– No asteroid to wipe out the dinosaurs mean parallel evolutions for intelligent lizards and apes. An inevitable clash of civilizations ensues.
- Conquistador- Alexander the Great’s empire endures and changes the shape of human history. A WWII vet from our world finds a way to crossover and carves out a little empire for himself.
- Everfair– What if the Congolese had mastered steam power before their would-be colonial masters? This novel imagines a completely different world, one where African nations have far more power and influence over world events.